Day 2733 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

James 1:2 NIV

Pure joy. That seems like a concept that we have very little comprehension or understanding of in life. How many times can any of us say that we've felt pure joy? Can any of us say that we know exactly what that kind of unhindered, unyielding, unashamed, untainted, unstoppable kind of joy really feels like? Well, in truth, most of us can. You see, joy is something that all of us have felt and experienced in our lives, but the problem is that it’s something that in and of itself is quite rare, and we also have a bad habit of making it even harder to find than it already is.

We tend to relegate joy to something that's found only when something extraordinarily special happens. Joy is something that seems reserved for only the biggest of celebrations or the most remarkable of news. Joy is often times nothing more than a distant idea that we like to think about and talk about because when considering how painful and challenging our lives tend to be, joy seems to be something that doesn't come around as often as we may like.

But we have in fact all experienced joy. So we know that it’s not only possible, but it does in fact exist. Most of the time, joy comes through experiencing something special. The birth of a child. Getting married. Reuniting with long-last family or friends. Finally achieving a goal that you’ve worked hard to reach. Finally breaking free from something that has held you back. All of those are things that bring us feelings of joy that help us know first-hand how amazing it feels. But how often do moment like that really come around? I think it’s fair to say they’re far rarer than the typical, ordinary, normal days that consist of mainly routines and unforeseen challenges. It those boring, dull, even sometimes painful regular days that we all seem to experience more often than not.

We can all be honest here: it's nearly impossible to think of being happy and joyous when life is miserable. Maybe you're in the middle of one of those seasons where nothing makes sense and everything is about ten-times harder than it needs to be. Maybe you don't feel good and healing or peace don't seem anywhere close up ahead. Maybe you've lost your job, are dealing with a rocky relationship, or perhaps it's all just happening at once and everything in your life is snowballing downhill toward what seems to be a rapidly approaching catastrophe.

The thing is that when we look at our circumstances, we'll have no problem finding reasons to not find joy. We'll have no difficulty in choosing things like anger, frustration, doubt, and even fear instead. Life makes those negative emotions and mindsets far easier to choose because the things we face are often anything but fun and enjoyable. Each of us are faced with pain, loss, confusion, uncertainty, illness, trial, hardship, and the list goes on and on. And it keeps going on and on. And it will keep going on and on for as long as we're on this earth.

So we have to decide whether we're going to continue to live as victims of our circumstances or if we're going to keep from allowing our lives to determine the amount of joy and peace and happiness and fulfillment that we have. As we discussed yesterday, the situations we face in life are the same either way. God's plans have been written and they will unfold no matter what. The only thing that we can change is how we react to them. Will we choose the easier path of anger and bitterness? Or will we set our hearts on finding the joy that is often hidden behind the misery?

Both are there. There is joy and there is suffering. There is happiness and there is sorrow. There is hope and there is doubt. There is good and there is bad, and it's completely on us to decide which sides of those coins we choose to live on while we're here. And while it may be harder to choose joy in the midst of life's tendency to be hard and painful, it's still a choice that we can choose. We just need to keep in mind that what's easy isn't always what's best. It may be easier to find anger or disappointment or frustration, but choosing that path just doesn't really bring much of benefit to our lives.

So, maybe we should strive to do what this verse in James tells us. To consider it pure joy when we face life's trials. To be thankful for the hardships we face. To try to teach our hearts to see the good in what we tend to think of as horrible and painful and scary. It's not easy. Nothing about it is easy. But what matters most is the purpose behind it all. It's not the temporary pain or the momentary inconvenience or the fleeting misery of it all. What matters most are the lessons to be learned, the growth to be found, the improvement to be gleaned from the things that push us and pull us and change us and force us to try.

Friends, none of if it is there to make us suffer or to beat us down or to inflict pain and misery into our lives. All of life's trials are there to strengthen us, to teach us resolve, to increase our resilience, to build up our fortitude and encourage us to seek out the weakness and complacency that has long held us back. The reason that it all seems miserable is because as humans we crave ease and comfort. And so when God's plans come along and don't take into account how much we'd rather just stay where we are and avoid anything and everything hard, well, our comfort-craving minds will see them as unkind, unloving, and unnecessary.

But if we could just try to see what God sees. If we could only try to consider things from His perspective then we might just realize He has a great purpose. We might just realize that He's trying to make us better. Life's trials aren't proof of God's anger or disappointment or desire to see us miserable. They're actually proof that God isn't done with us yet. They're proof that He's still working in our lives. They're proof that He still has ways to help us learn and grow and improve. And most of all, that He is willing to do whatever it takes to help us deepen our faith and strengthen our walk and grow in Him!

Friends, it's definitely something that takes a lot of focus and effort. Learning to see the good in what we've always considered bad just takes some time. And learning to find joy in the suffering takes a kind of humble surrender that we may have never experienced before. But if we can fully lay down our pre-conceived notions, stop clinging so tightly to our preferences, and simply trust in God's will then we will find joy in life. We will find it in places that we never imagined it being. We will find joy in the midst of pain and struggle because we'll finally be able to see that those things are only evidence of the good work that God is still doing to make us better.

It doesn't have to be easy. After all, easy doesn't make as big of an impact. Learning to rejoice in life's hardships is a lesson that we all need to learn because let's face it, life ain't gonna stop being hard. So if we can learn to find joy and thankfulness despite all the suffering then nothing we face will be able to drag us down or beat us up anymore. We'll have found a key to peace, and that's something we could all use in this place!

#LeaveNoSoulUntold