Difficulties are an opportunity for joy!

Scripture

My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can! For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up power within you to endure all things. And then as your endurance grows even stronger it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.

James 1:2-4 (The Passion Translation)

Observation

Who wants to have difficulties? I sure don’t enjoy them. In fact most of us try to avoid difficulties as much as possible! But I can see how they are an opportunity to grow in patience and endurance. You never know how much patience you have until it is tested.

My toddler tests my patience every day. And over the last few months of his “terrible twos,” I see that I have grown in my patience. I’m far from perfect; I still have much to learn. But I’m not losing my temper as much!

So how do I find joy when potty training isn’t going as well as I had hoped? When my son does the exact opposite of what I ask him to do? When he’s jumping on me or screaming “no, no, no!” over and over?

Maybe these are small difficulties compared to some of the trails we face in this life… The “terrible twos” may pale in comparison to losing a loved one, broken relationships, or debilitating health problems, but we all face many problems of different kinds.

Developing endurance – Thayer’s Greek Lexicon describes this endurance as “the characteristic of a man who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.”

When I know what the end result, the vision, the purpose is, I can endure through any difficulty because the end goal is worth all the pain of getting there.

Application

When my son isn’t listening and all I want to do is yell, I can take a breath and grow a little bit in my patience. I know that the purpose of parenting is to teach him life skills, to help him learn and grow, to show him how to be respectful and kind. When I keep this purpose in mind, it helps me to put up with all the struggles, to endure through the trying times, and to treat him respectfully.

Perhaps we may even find an extra blessing because of the trial we’re enduring?

It reminds me of this verse in Psalm 84:

How enriched are they who find their strength in the Lord;
within their hearts are the highways of holiness!
Even when their paths wind through the dark valley of tears,
they dig deep to find a pleasant pool where others find only pain.
He gives to them a brook of blessing
filled from the rain of an outpouring.

Psalm 84:5-6 (The Passion Translation)

Even the torrential downpour of trials can actually be turned into a brook of blessing when we trust in Him. Where others find only pain, He brings us to a pleasant pool. We find peace in the midst of suffering.

The difficulties may not be “enjoyable” in the cultural sense of the word, but it produces much in us, allowing us to grow in our patience, gratitude, and endurance. And James 1:4 says that this endurance “release[s] perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.”

Prayer

God, I look to You for my strength when I face trials of many kinds. Everything from devastating tragedies, to minor annoyances, You care about the difficulties in my life.

Thank You that You help me to endure when I rely on You to be my strength. Forgive me for the times we’ve tried to go it alone. Lift me up by Your mercy and help me through.

Help me through the testing of my faith, that I would produce endurance and grow to be mature and complete, lacking nothing. And give me the vision for the purpose in the pain – or to see how You can turn a tragedy into a blessing.

In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.