Can You Count it All Joy?

We know how James exhorts us, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (1:2). Count it a joy—look at suffering as a gift. But how? Can a person always be thankful? 

I realize that in my life I haven’t suffered much yet. So when I was writing my book on gratitude, I posed this question to Christian brothers and sisters who have faced many hardships. Some of these trials were (or still are) unimaginably difficult. When battling stage 4 cancer, dealing with the long-term effects of a traumatic car accident, living with the burden of chronic pain, or facing a bitter disappointment in their family, could they still be thankful to God? What were they thankful for?

By His grace, these sanctified sufferers were grateful for much.

More than a few thanked God for the support of their family and the communion of saints. They gratefully recalled hospital rooms that were crowded with well-wishers and fridges that were full of home-cooked meals.

One brother was thankful for the grace to patiently accept God’s will, though God had willed for him to spend most of his adult life in a wheelchair.

Another spoke gratefully of how his suffering with depression made him more understanding toward those who live with similar burdens and how it equipped him to minister God’s comfort to them.

A sister thanked the Lord for the gift of a good night’s sleep, even when her days were filled with stress and anxiety.

Another rejoiced in how her love for God had deepened during many months of uncertainty, and how her knowledge of His attributes was marvelously broadened.

Another was helped in her frailty by meditating on the reality of God’s protecting angels.

Many thanked God for the blessing of expert and effective medical care.

One brother spoke of his gratitude for still being able to go to church every Sunday and listen to the preaching of the gospel.

A sister facing terminal cancer thanked God for the opportunity to impress on her children that only one thing really matters in life: knowing and loving God.

These sufferers thanked God for the small and ordinary but precious routines of each day: going for a short walk every morning, reading the Bible at mealtimes, and welcoming the children home from school.

Even with tears in their eyes, my brothers and sisters gave thanks for how their suffering had inspired a real hope for the coming kingdom of Christ.

Theirs is the kind of thankfulness of which C. S. Lewis once spoke: “We shall not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have learned no habit of doing so on the lowest.” For even when at their lowest, these saints resolutely gave thanks to God. It is a gratitude we would all do well to emulate. We would not choose suffering, but through it we often experience the Lord’s grace more fully.

A suffering child of God may learn to affirm the deepest reason for gratitude. Even in grief and pain, we realize that we can be thankful for the greatest gift: God Himself, God as our faithful Father in Christ Jesus, through the constant presence of the Holy Spirit.

In the words of the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs,

“Before, the soul sought after this and that, but now it says, ‘I see that it is not necessary for me to be rich, but it is necessary for me to make my peace with God; it is not necessary that I should live a pleasurable life in this world, but it is absolutely necessary that I should have pardon of my sin; it is not necessary that I should have honour and preferment, but it is necessary that I should have God as my portion, and have my part in Jesus Christ, and it is necessary that my soul should be saved in the day of Jesus Christ.’” 

When we have God as our portion, much that is not truly necessary in our life can begin to fade from view. In Christ, we have what is necessary.

 This is how God’s people have always been able to remain unwavering in praise. Like Habakkuk, who resolves to trust in God, no matter what happens to the land and people and temple. Even when the Babylonians invade and all the fields are ruined and the flocks are no more, Habakkuk will thank the Lord: 

“Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls—

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (3:17–18)

God teaches us to rejoice in Him as the sovereign Lord, the One who does only what is right, the One who never missteps.

Though the disease is spreading and the brokenness can’t be fixed; though there is no money in the account and the loved one is in the grave—we can still be thankful. Even then, “I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

We rejoice because we believe that this God is with us, and He is always for us. We give thanks because we believe that He is our God in Christ, and that in Him we will live forever, long after all our sufferings have ceased.

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Excerpt from Thank God: Becoming More Grateful to the Greatest of Givers