Life has a way of blindsiding us, doesn't it? One day you're on top of the world, and the next you're wondering how everything fell apart so quickly. Maybe you're there right now – in the middle of something that feels impossible to bear. Today, we're going to look at how God wants us to see our trials through His eyes.
James 1:2-3 "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."
James opens his letter with what might be the most unreasonable command in all of Scripture: "Count it all joy." Not some joy, not a little joy – all joy. Maximum joy. The kind of joy you feel at a wedding or when your child is born. And he's telling us to feel this way about our trials.
Now, James isn't asking us to be masochists or to pretend our pain doesn't hurt. He's asking us to see our trials for what they actually are – not random acts of cruelty, but purposeful instruments in the hands of a loving God.
Your trial is a test. Not the kind of test you took in high school where the teacher was trying to catch you not knowing something. This is the kind of test that reveals authenticity – like testing gold to see if it's real or just fool's gold. God uses your difficulty to show you that your faith is genuine, that it's not just something you picked up because it was convenient or because your family was religious.
But it's more than just authentication – it's also about strengthening. Every trial you face is like a workout for your faith. Just like your muscles get stronger when they're put under stress, your faith gets stronger when it's tested. The Greek word for "testing" here literally means "putting something through fire to purify it."
Here's what I want you to understand: if you're going through something difficult right now, God hasn't abandoned you. He hasn't forgotten about you. He's actually working in your situation to make you more like Jesus. That's His goal – not to make you happy, but to make you holy. Not to make your life easy, but to make your faith strong.
Most people want to escape their trials as quickly as possible. But what if God is saying, "Don't waste this. Let it have its perfect result. Stay with it, engage it, don't get passive or angry. This is a good God doing good work in a hard place." - Harry Walls
1. What trial are you currently facing that you need to see through God's eyes rather than your own?
2. How has God used past difficulties to strengthen your faith or reveal areas where you needed to grow?
3. What would change in your attitude toward your current circumstances if you truly believed God was using them to make you more like Jesus?
Stay dialed in,
Jonny Ardavanis
From Dial In Ministries
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