Rejoicing in trials

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  Matthew 5: 11 – 12

I have been reading The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun, a Chinese pastor who along with many Chinese Christians has been imprisoned and horrifically beaten, tortured and persecuted just for being Christian. They have an understanding of the joy of persecution that I have no comprehension of.  Yet their experience is Biblical.  Jesus suffered greatly for us. His disciples and the apostle Paul all suffered terribly for the Gospel and most were martyred yet I doubt any would have preferred an easier life.   

James tells us ‘to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds’. Why? Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1: 3 – 4).

Brother Yun says, ‘There are many ways the Lord may lead a Christian during his or her life but I am convinced that the path of every believer will sooner or later include suffering. The Lord gives us these trials to keep us humble and dependent on him for our sustenance. I believe when suffering and pain increases, sinning decreases. … How we mature as a Christian largely depends on the attitude we have when we are faced with suffering. Some try to avoid it or imagine it doesn’t exist, but that will only make the situation worse.  Others try to endure it grimly, hoping for relief.  This is better but falls short of the full victory God wants to give each of his children.

The Lord wants us to embrace suffering as a friend.  We need a deep realisation that when we’re persecuted for Jesus’ sake it is an act of God’s blessing to us. This might sound impossible but it is attainable with God’s help.

When people malign you, rejoice and be glad. When they curse you, bless them in return.  When you walk through a painful experience, embrace it and you will be free! When you learn these lessons, there is nothing left that the world can do to you.’

Most of us have little experience of what Brother Yun suffered, yet how to endure and, yes, rejoice in our lesser suffering is the same.  His experiences were so extreme and dreadful yet all of us will also have trials at some time with family difficulties, work problems, financial worries and church! It is through these that we can know that God is always with us and will use these circumstances to bring about his plans for our lives as we press into him.  Self pity will always try and grip us but instead we must embrace God.  Our character and maturity grow to bring us to completeness as we persevere in the midst of our difficulties and as we test God’s eternal word and find it is completely faithful and trustworthy.  Maybe we will even learn to rejoice in our suffering realising God is doing a great work in our lives.

 

Consider it pure joy

‘Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’ James 1: 3 – 4

There are several times in the Bible when the believer is encouraged to rejoice in the face of trials or testings and persecution. For some this may be the very real possibility of losing their job, being ostracised from the family, being beaten, imprisoned or killed for their faith. When Peter and John were imprisoned and threatened by the Sanhedrin they came away rejoicing that they had been considered worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name (Acts 5: 41).

Most of us will not face these kinds of threats or persecution but we can nevertheless learn how to deal with our own difficulties.  The one thing we tend not to consider when we face trials is pure joy. The first thing tends to be anger, disappointment and frustration or irritation. We rail against the instrument of the trial whether that be a person or situation and probably have a rant and rave and if the person is close, we may then do the stony silence routine. There is definitely no rejoicing!

I have learned over the years that after the initial anger or frustration that I feel, I then ask God what is going on and what can I learn from this?  This takes things away from me and how I feel. Sometimes the devil is behind it and what looks like a person being mean, unkind or inconsiderate is actually the devil using a situation which we may have played a part in to bring division, discord and disharmony – his stock in trade.

Other times it is the weakness of the flesh, mine or another’s but nevertheless there are lessons to learn and fruit to grow. Our friend forgiveness opens the door to turning a horrible experience into a situation that develops faith, perseverance and brings us to maturity. Having forgiven and been forgiven by God, we can then attack the enemy, tell him to get off the situation and ask for healing and restoration.

I have seen many domestic tiffs miraculously turned around by this. Having dealt with your own frustrations and anger and asked God’s forgiveness, we can then go and apologise (often regardless of the rights and wrongs).  The transformation can be rapid and we will have grown in maturity. Instead of a stony silence and ‘I am hurt and you’re not helping’ attitude, normal service is resumed and we will have learned valuable lessons in love and grace. We will have stepped up from ‘poor me’ or worse still self righteous indignation to becoming mature men and women of God.

Sometimes of course the situation is more serious but the same principle of not feeling sorry for ourselves but looking to God to bring healing, restoration and spiritual growth in our lives is the same. There have been a couple of times when our pastors (of many years ago) treated us quite badly and were quite inconsiderate and hurtful. I felt so let down and disappointed but managed to find forgiveness and let God heal my heart. At the time a friend told me that in years to come, I would be glad about what had happened which seemed unbelievable at the time. Now looking at the situation, I can rejoice over what was so painful and over which I shed many tears. I learned so much about trusting God not man to bring good out of situations. I have grown and so has my perseverance and faith.

Several times Jesus and the apostles talk of rejoicing in difficulties and trials because of the maturity they bring to our faith. When we face trials, let us use them as a step up to greater levels of grace and maturity and let us see them not as an obstacle but as an opportunity to grow into Christ like character.