While we are living in this world most of us have experienced what Jesus warned us about: “In the world you will have tribulation [trials].” [John 16:33 NKJV]
Jesus wanted us to understand that it is not about “if” we are going to have trials or tribulations, it is “when” we are going to have them. It’s a given; trials do come.
Yesterday we saw that James gave us a blueprint for handling our trials when they come. He said we are to “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” [James 1:2]
There are two parts of that blueprint that are crucial. The first is the command to Count. Count means to evaluate. It’s a financial term. We are to determine if the trial goes in the asset or the liability column.
The second crucial part is the timing of that accounting. Do we wait to the end to see if God really does work all things to our good? Or do we do it at the beginning?
James says we count our trials as all joy “when [we] fall into” them. We aren’t to wait until we can look back and see how the trials benefited our walk with the LORD, but we are to put the joy at the beginning of the trial.
Our outlook, or attitude, will play heavily into the outcome. We are far more likely to mature in our Christian walk if we go into a trial with joy, expecting to draw closer to the LORD in it, than if we murmur and complain through the experience. Not saying it’s easy. Just saying it’s necessary.
