Count It All Joy

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” James 1:2

Notice what this verse does not say. It doesn’t say, “Count it all joy, my brothers, if you meet trials of various kinds.” No, trials in the life of a Christian are not a possibility; they are a guarantee. It’s not a question of if trials will enter into our lives, but a question of when we will encounter them. 

Another important word here talking about trials is the word “meet.” The King James and New King James Versions word this verse as “when you fall into various trials.” Some translations say meet or encounter, but the best way for us to understand encountering trials is that we fall into them. 

Trials are not something we just stumble upon while walking along life’s road. No, they are a ditch we plunge into headfirst without any warning. We fall into them unintentionally. We don’t choose, seek, or expect trials, but they come. 

The trials we face as Christians can be any number of troubles. It could be someone you love passing away, and you walk through the process of grief. It could be the end of a relationship or friendship, or maybe your bond with your family is strained. It could be that you are battling some internal sin, or maybe you are walking through anxiety, depression, or harmful thoughts. 

Chances are, you relate to one or more of these trials. We are all either going into a trial, in the middle of a trial, or coming out of a trial. 

But as Christians, we are commanded to look at our trials from a different perspective. So what does it mean to count these trials as joy? 

First, let’s talk about what this doesn’t mean:

• To count it all joy doesn’t mean to put on a fake smile and pretend to be happy when we’re anything but happy.
• To count it all joy doesn’t mean that we deny our trials, saying that they’re really not that bad and that we’re okay. 
• To count it all joy doesn’t mean that we can’t be honest with God about how we’re feeling and what we are going through. It doesn’t mean that we can’t take our pain to Him. 

To count it all joy does mean, however, that you choose to trust in God and who He is as you walk through these trials of various kinds. It is a change in our mindset as we approach trials. We consider them a joy, even if they do not bring us happiness in the moment. We can see the bigger picture and trust that God is working His purpose in the trials. 

One great example of what it means to count it all joy comes from Christian author and blogger Tim Challies. In 2020, Tim Challies’ son, Nick, unexpectedly passed away. In his book Seasons of Sorrow, Tim writes about his journey through this grief. In one chapter of the book, Tim determines how he will respond to this loss and writes the following:

By faith I will accept Nick’s death as God’s will, and by faith accept that God’s will is always good. By faith I will be at peace with Providence, and by faith at peace with its every decree. By faith I will praise God in the taking as I did in the giving, and by faith receive from his hand this sorrow as I have so many joys. I will grieve but not grumble, mourn but not murmur, weep but not whine…I will receive this trial as a responsibility to steward, not a punishment to endure…I will continue to love God and trust him, continue to pursue God and enjoy him, continue to worship God and boast of his many mercies. (pp. 36–37)

This is what it means to count our trials as joy. We may be battered and wounded. We may have bruises and battle scars. We may have suffered much and endured many trials—but we have come out on the other side because our God faithfully led us through them. 

Furthermore, because God walks with us through our trials—because He will never leave us or forsake us—we can and will have a consistent joy that cannot be stolen from us, no matter how dark life gets, because the God who saves us will not abandon us. That is cause for great joy.