How Do I Have Joy When Life Is Really Hard?
How do I have joy when life is really hard? It's tough, but here is what James would tell you.
Years ago, I listened to Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, share the story of how he and his wife Kay handled the day when their son Matthew, who struggled with mental illness, took his life. If you haven't already, I encourage you to give it a listen.
The pain Rick and Kay felt that day was about as bad as it gets. Still, as they stood in the driveway holding on to each other, two words sustained them. Choose joy.
On the surface, these words might seem like an impossible paradox. Joy when your son is gone? Joy when the pain you're experiencing is greater than at any other point in your life?
But it's obvious the Warrens had spent a lot of time in James 1, where James writes about joy in trials.
What Are Trials?
When it comes to life, there are trials and then there are TRIALS. Trials are difficult situations in life that we encounter. The car refuses to start, a relationship crisis emerges, or a health issue arises that requires immediate attention.
All of us go through trials. However, trials of this kind cannot compare to the TRIALS those in James’ audience were going through.
A couple of nerdy points to note. First, the context. The “twelve tribes in the dispersion” to whom James was writing were people who had probably been scattered as a result of Herod Agrippa I. These people knew what it meant to really suffer, not just everyday hardships, but real trials. These trials were real-life situations that called into question the very faith that they held so dear; trials that saw their families thrown into prison, friends beheaded, or homes lost.
Second, the same word for trials (peirasmos) James uses is most often translated as "temptation" when it is used in the four Gospels. David Nystrom notes, “The Hebrew word that stands behind the Greek word 'trials' (peirasmos) is nasah, which means to prove the quality or worth of someone or something through adversity.”
Third, this word for meet (peripipto) carries with it the idea of suddenly encountering something unexpected. It is only used two other times in the New Testament. Once in Luke 10:30 to the man who encountered robbers in the story of the Good Samaritan, and then again in Acts 27:41 when a ship the Apostle Paul is sailing on runs aground on a reef.
Nystrom goes on to point out that Peirasmos is linked to peirates (“attacker, pirate” ) and can mean both incitements to evil thoughts and actions and hardships that prove mettle.”
