As we continue learning how to walk in the joy of the Lord, this week we consider how to manage our soul in trying times. The Lord Jesus taught, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Challenges will surely come, but the key to maintaining our joy in times of hardships lies in how we respond. Apostle Paul urges us to “glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). We can rejoice in hardship because our joy is not dependent on external circumstances – it is a fruit of the spirit that flows from within (Galatians 5:22). However, we cannot claim to be in joy while our outward expression shows sorrow and defeat. Joy is visible; it must be evident in our countenance, heard in our words, and seen in our actions. Even in tribulation, we are called to rejoice, because joy is a weapon of endurance that sustains us through hardship. And as patience has her perfect work in us, it produces experience, which anchors us in joyful and confident hope. This is why remembrance is so important – when we recall how God has come through before, our joy is stirred afresh and our strength is renewed.
Even more than memory, the Scriptures themselves comfort and encourage us in difficult times. Apostle Peter exhorts us, saying, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith … may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7). This is a reminder that our joy must not be dictated by circumstances – we rejoice even in the midst of trials. Paul echoes the same perspective in 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, saying, “Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” And yet, when Paul called his afflictions ‘light,’ he was not referring to minor inconveniences, but rather situations that would have broken him if he gave attention to them. In 2 Corinthians 11:23–27, he lists beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, stonings, hunger, cold, dangers on every side – yet he called them ‘light’ because they were insignificant when compared to the eternal glory of being with Christ. Saints, when we compare our struggles to what Paul endured, have we experienced even a fraction of such suffering? Still, he chose to see them as momentary. We too must learn to manage our afflictions, viewing them through the lens of eternity, so that we can endure them without collapsing under their weight. Then we can boldly declare that “we are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
Church, the joy of the Lord strengthens and sustains us, so that whatever we face becomes light and temporary when compared to eternity. So let us maintain the right perspective, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), and maintaining our joy no matter what.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for Word, which anchors us even in the midst of affliction. Teach us to choose joy in every hardship and to see every trial through the lens of eternity. Strengthen our inner man day by day, and let our joy be a visible testimony of Your faithfulness. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
