Why Your Suffering Isn’t Wasted

One of the first things a journalism student learns is to start with a good lead. In his well-known book, On Writing Well, author and writing professor William Zinsser wrote, “The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead.”[1]

I don’t know if William Zinsser ever read the epistle of James, but if he did, I’d liked to have heard his thoughts. James comes out of the shoot with an eye-brow raising statement that leaves the reader scratching his head.  James wrote:

“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” (Jas. 1:2-4).

Wait…what?

Did he say we’re to consider our trials a joy?

You can’t accuse James of small talk. But what does he mean when he says we are to “consider our trials a joy?”

James was writing to a group of dispersed Jews who were forced out of their homeland. They were oppressed, living in poverty, and were being harassed by wealthy landowners (Jas. 5:4-6), who had taken them to court (Jas. 2:6), and mocked their faith (Jas. 2:7). James wrote to encourage them. He neither ignored nor sugar-coated their circumstances. Instead, he instructed them on how to manage themselves in a godly way during hard times.

James wanted his readers to know that God uses trials to strengthen our faith and he explained that trials include “testing.”  The word testing in this instance comes from the Greek word (dokimion), which the NIV Bible translates as genuine.[2]   The testing of faith isn’t to be confused with temptation because James makes it clear that God isn’t the source of temptation and He tempts no one (Jam. 1:13). But God does allow us to be tested and James’ point is that God intends for testing to refine our faith. In the same way a fire removes the impurities from silver—times of testing purify our faith— and bring about endurance and maturity in the life of a believer.

None of us enjoy times of testing and hardship. But based on the authority of Scripture, we can find joy in the reality that our suffering isn’t wasted. The muscles in our bodies have to be challenged to become stronger, and if a muscle isn’t challenged, it atrophies. Likewise, our spiritual lives must experience resistance to develop and mature. It’s during hard times we learn that God is everything the Scriptures claim Him to be and more. God never intends for our hardships to destroy us–they are intended to make our faith strong. As Charles Spurgeon said, “Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.”

[1] William Zinsser, On Writing Well, (New York: Harper Collins, 1976).

[2] Douglas J. Moo, The New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2000, 54).