Pure Joy

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." James 1:2-7

This is pretty tough.  Having joy when facing difficult situations can be quite challenging.  However, the passage never said these circumstances make us happy. Being happy and having "pure joy" are two different things.

Joy does not come from external happenings, whether good or bad, but comes from the Lord no matter what is taking place.

Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

We know that when we face these trials we are getting stronger and stronger in the Lord and that in itself should give us "pure joy".

Lately, I have been trying to encourage myself, just like David. But, it hasn't been working.  I feel more like the Israelites in the desert who were going no where fast because they were murmuring and complaining.  Life may not be getting better. Problems seem to be heating up and going forward may not seem to be the best prospect. We see that this promised land of milk and honey is occupied by some fierce looking giants who make us fearful.

We run to man to try and figure out the giant problem, but man has no answers, no matter how astute he is.  His wisdom cannot match that of God's, yet we keep going back to him and keep hitting into that brick wall.  God knows how to break down that wall, but it just doesn't make sense to us.  We want to get through the wall, however God defies human wisdom and tells us to walk around it and then make a shout.  How odd? Surely, those watching us will think we are fools.  Instead, we return to man for a better answer and needless to say the wall stays up and seems to get thicker and higher.

We cannot believe God.  His wisdom makes no sense.  We forget that His ways are not our ways, resulting in us wavering and doubting.  We want to enter the promised land, but we listen to man rather than God.  

The Lord knows about the giants.  He also knows that He is going to use those giants to build our faith, but we need to persevere.  We can't give up. Our ideas to get out of our mess don't always work and some are just temporary fixes.  The giants are there to build us, not kills us.  God is our refuge and our fortress. When we rest in His shadow, He guards us from the heat of the problem.  No doubt, the problem is still there, but with God for us, who or what can be against us?  

The problem is not the problem itself, but how we react to the problem.  Do we believe man or God? And do we have "pure joy" in spite of it all?