“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).
Right out of the chute, James is making crazy talk. “Joy to go through trials? You’re kidding, right? Do you know what I’m going through right now?” No, but I can imagine. Maybe you lost your job. Maybe your employer keeps piling on the workload. Your children won’t talk to you. Your wife finds fault in everything you do. You just discovered your husband’s pornography habit. Your estranged parent reached out and wants you in their life again, but you don’t know if you can trust them. You’re behind on your house payments, the hospital called (again) and is turning your account over to debt collections, and your car wouldn’t start this morning. Maybe you’re alone, sick, stuck, afraid, forgotten, neglected, or abused. Maybe you’re all of these wrapped up in one oppressive weight of misery. These trials are of “various kinds,” and we all meet them. Paul even says in 1 Cor 10:13 that they are “common to man.” (The word for “trial” and “temptation” is the same here in the Greek: peirasmois.) Knowing that they’re common doesn’t help me be happy about it, though. So what’s with this almost discourteous opening: “Count it all joy, brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds”?
James is abrupt because he needs to be. This is crisis intervention. However, James isn’t looking to prevent or terminate any troubles. The hurts, the difficulties, the hurdles and twists and turns—they’re real, but they’re not the point. The particular issues of the trial aren’t the real trial. The way we think about the trial is the real trial. God doesn’t want us to waste a trial, to endure it in vain, because the crisis is a dangerous opportunity, and it all hangs on how we think about it.
We need this perspective. We need to “consider” or “count” our trials a certain way in light of what we “know” (Ja 1:2-4). James assumes his “brothers”—the “twelve tribes” of God’s people—he trusts we want to be “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Then we ought to be glad for whatever propels us toward that goal. When we “let steadfastness have its full effect”—when we endure faithfully to the end—trials lead to wholeness. That’s why we “count it all joy.” That should make us crazy happy. Think about it.
—Justin Dobbs