Consider It Pure Joy . . .

When you have a baby...now that’s pure joy. When church members bring you food so you don’t have to cook . . .ahh, pure joy. When my son steals a ball and makes a layup or when Samer Tohmy improves his jumpshot . . . pure joy. Basically, anything good that happens to ME or the PEOPLE I LIKE are things that fit my description of “pure joy.”

Yet James tells us, “consider it pure joy my brothers . . . when you face TRIALS and TEMPTATIONS of many kinds.” What’s that supposed to mean? When I get cut off in traffic . . . “Pure joy.” When my neighbor complains about my dog barking . . . “Pure joy.” When a raccoon bites me . . . “Pure joy.” (Sorry, Julie!) When something bad happens to my children . . . “Pure joy.”

Now that’s some pretty hard line advice. If we think of James’ advice as a haughty slap upside the head to all spiritual slackers, then it’s a little hard to swallow. James has been read for too long as a series of little pithy bumper stickers for macho Christians like . . . “when the going gets tough . . .” But when we think of James’ admonition as the wise words of a man who had faced his fair share of “trials and temptations of many kinds . . .” then we see that he is standing alongside us. He is saying, “I’m old and strong and mature now, and I got there by being tested. I got here by persevering . . . not necessarily by being perfect or by being excellent.”

I think it is encouraging to read James and not feel pressured or burdened to “feel pure joy” when the raccoon bites us (or whatever random crazy things come along), but rather to “consider it pure joy” to have persevered the encounter with faith not only intact, but enhanced. Otherwise we are caught in a trap where the only joy we can feel is when something really good happens to us or the people we like . . . which Jesus reminds us, isn’t any different than the rest of the world we are trying to reach.

Indescribable*

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea,
Creation’s revealing Your majesty.
From the colors of Fall to the fragrance of Spring,
Every creature unique in the song that it sings.
All exclaiming:

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky, and You know them by name.
You are amazing, God;
All powerful, untamable.
Awestruck, we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God.

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow?
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night?
None can fathom.

Indescribable, uncontainable;
You placed the stars in the sky, and You know them by name.
You are amazing, God;
Incomparable, unchangeable.
You see the depths of my heart, and You love me the same.
You are amazing, God.

*By Laura Story © 2004 Worshiptogether.com Songs

Psalm 65

O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come.
When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.
Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.

You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,
who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
Those living far away fear your wonders;
where morning dawns and evening fades
you call forth songs of joy.

You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.

(2-13)