James instructs us to count it all joy. In so doing, he calls us to form an opinion, to take a position. We need to hear this because our reflex in the face of trials is to grumble and complain.

Count it all joy.
(James 1:2, NKJV)

How many of us have not experienced walking on air at the reception of good news in one moment only to find ourselves plummeting to have our hopes dashed in the next? Our joy can seem so fickle when subject to the whim of circumstance.

But is it joy we are experiencing? It certainly feels like it. Our spirits soar. Our hearts race. Our countenance beams. No doubt euphoria does fall under the semantic reaches of joy, but the joy God has for us has a different character. The high of elation better belongs to froth that wells up only to dissipate rather than the enduring joy of substance that is the fruit of the Spirit.

Often what we think of as joy is circumstance-dependent. In that sense, joy is more like the flame that feeds on the tinder of pleasant situations. Joy waxes and wanes in line with the excitement tied to our favorite team leading or losing.

The Scriptures, however, direct us to a different source of joy. That source is God Himself, the God who does not change like shifting shadows. The joy of the Lord becomes our strength in pilgrimage, whatever that pilgrimage may hold.

James, writing to believers undergoing persecution, begins his letter on a note that runs counter to a popular conception of joy. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2, ESV).

What odd and unreasonable counsel! Trials should evoke a negative response, in the order of dejection or despair. That would be true if joy were contingent on the circumstance. But it’s not. Joy taps into the purpose of our sovereign Father that irrigates the trial through underground streams apparent to lively faith.

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