“There is no love of life without despair of life.” Albert Camus

Count it all Joy: A Believer’s Prescription for Enduring Bitterness

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Jas 1:2-4  

 

“when ye fall”

Count it all joy!

It may sound easier on paper, but in nature we know how hard it is. The body wills at any time, but the spirit is often weak.

For when we fall, either by temptation or whether by someone’s sleight of hand, the first instinct which rises to the heart is bitterness.

We are wired to win, wired to be at the top at all times, we are wired to trust our own strength, power, and knowledge at all times.

But many times nature has proven us false. We thought we were standing, but steadily we found we were sitting.

Nothing shifts a man’s life like that. And the reaction which we know so well is bitterness.

But here comes James the apostle, saying, no, count it all joy! It sounds crazy but then the things of God can seem like that. For his ways are not our ways, and neither are his thoughts our thoughts.

“when ye fall”, God is ever preaching, pray and repent, and afterwards proceed to the banqueting table.

The Temptation of the Prodigal

And that is exactly what the prodigal did. His temptations were astronomical, and the temptations of the youth are always astronomical. The prodigal was literally walking on air. “Give me what is mine.” And after getting what was his, the prodigal stepped out in regal form. And the nouveau riche greatest craving (as we know from experience) is to let the whole world know.

The prodigal’s temptations carried him high at first, but only for a while… and the overarching bitterness always lies ahead, crouching, and waiting. The prodigal walked right into it.

But it’s not even that we remember him by, but the season at the banqueting table! When ye fall, says James, count it all joy. And when ye fall, says the pessimist, go ye home and cry.

There is a Place for Sorrow

Yes, it is there. Sorrow must come! And it is good – when it leadeth to repentance, but afterward rub off the dust, rise up and walk home to the Father.

Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 

For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. 2Co 7:9-11 

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Heb 12:11  

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2Co 7:1  

David, The Man after God’s Heart

Next we land on the greatest temptation of all time, the temptation of the greatest character of scripture, the temptation of the ubiquitous David.

At first he attempted to shrug it off. Perhaps he believed time heals everything, but it didn’t. In the end, like in the affair of the prodigal, David came to himself. Only God could lift his soul from the dust of death.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 

Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 

When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 

For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. 

For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. 

Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. Psa 32:1-7 

Next we land on the apostle Paul, the iconic, and rugged Paul. It is easy of course to believe every day he was streaming upon a winning streak. But that is an error. For the truth is that many times he veered on the margins of a stammering sorrow.

For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Act 9:16 

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 

Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. 2Co 1:8-10  

Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. 2Co 12:5-6 

For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2Co 12:8-10

Lastly, and mine own favourite, the joys and the sorrows which encompass the countless and inimitable saints of all time.

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail

me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson,

and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of

the prophets: 

Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 

Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 

Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 

And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 

They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 

(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 

God having provided some better thing for us, that

they without us should not be made perfect. 

Heb 11:32-40  

Hope is never more so lustrous, as when she is encased with his blood; the darkness, bursting into a robe of light. That light dazzling, a time capsule for eternity.

“To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life” (Rom 2:7). 

Therefore it is written, “All things are possible with God,” and “All things are possible to the one who believes.”

Believeth thou this?

Life is a Temptation Galore

Don’t be frozen, dear brethren. Jump in, claim your reward, and afterward rejoice!

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb 11:6). 

Temptations test the limit of our faith. “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small” (Pro 24:10). 

“when ye fall”?

Yes, count it all joy!

For it is not by our works we are saved, but by his unmerited mercy.

Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 

And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. Rom 11:5-6  

 

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom 5:18-21  

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Rom 8:32  

God does not only command, but he gives the power to obey. God gives us not only the power to believe, but also the power to endure.

Have a blessed endurance!