Joy in the Hard Places

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” — James 1:2–3 (NIV)

James doesn’t ease into his letter. It’s short, urgent, and addressed to believers who were likely facing persecution, displacement, and pressure from all sides. He doesn’t have time for niceties or gentle warm‑ups. He goes straight to the heart of what they need to hear. His opening line is startling: Be glad, because trials are coming, and God will use them. It’s not the introduction we expect, but it’s one that speaks honestly to the world we live in.

James isn’t saying that God sends every hardship. Scripture gives us a more layered picture: some trials come from living in a broken world, some from human choices or injustice, and some from spiritual opposition — as in Job, where God allows testing but does not author evil. What James affirms is that trials will come, and that God meets us in them with purpose and presence. Sometimes they arrive one at a time. Sometimes they stack so high we can barely breathe.

Recently, a friend, in requesting prayer for someone, shared that the woman was undergoing cancer treatment while caring for her husband with Alzheimer’s and still grieving the loss of a daughter. That’s not a “test” in the abstract — that’s a life stretched thin. 

James isn’t telling her to smile through it. He’s pointing to a deeper truth echoed in Romans 5, where suffering produces perseverance, and in 1 Peter, where trials refine faith like fire. Perseverance isn’t gritting our teeth; it’s the quiet strengthening that happens when we discover God has not left us.

So what is the purpose of perseverance? Not to prove ourselves or earn God’s favor — the Father has already poured out His favor in sending His Son to die for our sins, and the Spirit continually assures us that we belong to God. Perseverance deepens our relationship with God because it teaches us — again and again — that the Father is faithful, the Son walks with us in suffering, and the Spirit strengthens us when our own strength runs out, perfecting us in love even in the midst of hardship. Joy doesn’t come from the hardship itself. It comes from trusting that the Triune God is at work within it, shaping us with a love that never lets go.

Holy God, you know the trials we carry — the ones we name and the ones we keep hidden. Meet us in each one. Strengthen our faith where it feels thin. Grow perseverance in us through your steadfast love. Teach us to find joy not in the struggle, but in your faithful presence that never leaves us. Amen.

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Tim