Taking Joy in Trials

I recently had my wisdom teeth removed. It’s not an event to be looking forward to.

The surgery isn’t that bad. I’m asleep. I don’t feel a thing. And when I wake up from the surgery, I feel great. It seems as if the numbing potion the doctors brewed up and injected into me was still in effect.

An hour later, I was wincing in pain. The cuts in my mouth used to extract my wisdom teeth were the doors for blood to flow freely into my mouth. Every 20 minutes, I had to take a blood-drenched gauze out of my mouth and replace it with a clean gauze that would only be soaked in blood minutes later. The blood that trickled from my wounds to my tongue and down my throat tasted nasty. And even after the blood clotted, pain still roamed in my mouth. My lips became a trigger for pain, opening them a fraction of an inch would release an excruciating pain that would jut up my mouth.

Do I regret having my wisdom teeth taken out? By no means! I actually feel sorry for the people who can’t have their wisdom teeth taken out, like the apostle Paul, who probably don’t know what wisdom teeth surgery is. I consider myself lucky to have my wisdom teeth removed, despite all the pain it has caused me. I know that my wisdom teeth will cause me great pain by penetrating my gums when they grow out, nor disturb my other beautiful, straight teeth.

To sum it up in four words: It was worth it.

Let’s face it, trials are worth it. In the words of one of the most profound theologians, Kanye West, “Now that that don’t kill me can only make me stronger.”

James appears to be mathematical in the introduction to his book as he writes about trials:

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.  -James 1:2-4

Trials=Testing of your faith.
Testing of your faith=Perseverance.
Perseverance=Maturity and Completion.

If you want to end up being mature and complete, you need to start at the very beginning of the equation, and work your way down. It all starts with trials. And every single trial you go through in this life will test your faith.

Look at Job. He was a man who faced “trials of many kinds.” God allowed Satan to bring trial after trial, disaster after disaster, upon Job. Yet, in the midst of these trials, right after God allows Satan to destroy virtually everything Job possesses and kill his sons and daughters, Job praises God.

The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.  -Job 1:21

Taking joy in trials doesn’t mean taking pleasure in pain. I appreciate my wisdom teeth removal because I wouldn’t have to worry about them growing in, not because I like groaning in pain when a burst of pain juts into my mouth. In the same way, being joyous in the midst of trials doesn’t imply that you love the parts of your life when you are in misery; it means that your joy derives from your confidence in Christ. Your joy comes from knowing that he is in complete control of everything; good and bad, blessing and trial. You take joy in knowing that even though trials are painful, they will only make you stronger.

During a trial, keeping your eyes on the prize will spur you on in difficult times. Just as God blessed Job with even more than what he started with, you too, have a prize, and an end result. If you start out with trials, James writes you will end up with maturity and completion.

Thus, every time you face a trial, be assured than you will come out stronger, more mature and complete then you previously were. Now that is definitely something I should invest my joy in.