Imagine this scenario: You have been out of work for six months, your car has been repossessed, and your house is in foreclosure. You’re just so joyful that you would break out the champagne and celebrate, except you can’t afford any…

Is this what James is talking about?

The Living Bible states it this way: “Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy.” It is not the suffering itself that brings joy, but the knowledge that the suffering will work together for good and bring immense benefits (Romans 8:18, 28).

Mr. Dennis Luker, a minister in United Church of God, gave a sermon entitled, “Seven Good Reasons for Trials in Our Lives.” The first good reason for trials is to lead us to a deeper repentance. “Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).

The Bible tells us that it is God’s goodness that leads us to repentance—that He intervenes in our lives at a certain point to open our hearts and minds and to begin to show us where we are wrong. (You can read a transcript of the sermon in its entirety at http://ucg.org/sermons/transcripts/200409trials.htm).

First the pain, then the gain

The Bible, among other things, is God’s child-rearing book. A child that is being disciplined does not feel joyful. “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). But a child matures into a responsible young adult as a result of discipline from loving parents. At that moment, all the chastening and all the discipline becomes joy. Looking back, the person is joyful that he received the wise and valuable discipline as a child.

Consider an Olympic athlete in training: There are many years of hard work, pain from strained muscles, disappointments and discouragement… Then comes the moment. While he stands on the podium, the flag of his country is raised, and the national anthem of his country is played. A gold medal is placed around his neck, and at that moment all the pain, all the discouragement, all the disappointment becomes joy.

Consider also the individuals that God has called into His Church and is working with spiritually. “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

At the moment of their resurrection to eternal life, all the heartache, all the suffering, all of the disappointment and discouragement they have felt will become joy. Not because of a gold medal that is won—for that lasts only a moment. But it is because of a crown that lasts for eternity. For at that moment they will be entering the Kingdom of God, not as little children, but as mature sons of God into God’s family. This is the joy that is spoken of by James.