Finding Joy Through The Storms Part 1

Longsuffering or endurance is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It’s not something I often hear mentioned in prayers. Personally, I find myself praying for love, joy, peace, and faithfulness. But longsuffering? That’s one I’d rather avoid if possible. Like anyone else, I don’t enjoy suffering, and like Jesus, I hope the cup passes over me. Yet, James encourages us to “count it all joy” when we face various trials because the testing of our faith produces patience. When patience matures in us, it makes us perfect and complete.

Counting It All Joy

But how do you count it all joy? This is a tough one for me. I would prefer to go through life without the inconvenience of suffering. Even mentioning the word ‘suffering’ makes me uneasy. Unfortunately, no matter how good we are as Christians, we cannot escape some form of suffering. It’s like a student asking to graduate without ever taking a test. How can you know your capabilities and weaknesses? As someone said, “God does not allow you to go through the test to prove to Him who you are but He allows you to go through it to prove to you what you are made of.”

Lessons From Job

Recently, I’ve been going through the Book of Job, and I can hardly describe my feelings about his sufferings. Job was confident that his sufferings were not because of his wrongs. Many times, when we see Christians go through difficult times, we are quick to judge that they must have done something wrong. Like Job’s friends, we dissect the life of the Christian and even subtly deride them at their back or to their faces. Sometimes, we are the ones who beat ourselves down. Have you stopped to consider, what if they did not do anything wrong? What if it is their moment of trial?

Now we celebrate Job, but honestly, with the amount of mishap he had, I doubt most of us would have been different from his friends. Some may have thought he was involved in some evil activities for his wealth, and now he is paying the price. How could such evil happen to one man in such a short period? Note that, it was not God who did these but the devil.

I remember when my wife and I lost our first child at birth. The same year, I lost my mom, and my brother lost a child. I couldn’t comprehend it. We had prayed, sowed seeds, cried, and labored, and it all appeared to be in vain. We felt anger, blame, and grief and wondered where we may have gone wrong. I still don’t understand it, but I am glad we did not lose our minds. There are things only God can explain, but I can look back and say that we are in a much better place today. Now, we can comfort others with the same comfort we received from God.