Count it All Joy Part One

Have you ever run into a Scripture that just really grabs you and makes you have to wrestle while you are in the middle of things?

I mean you are in real difficult battle and there is a Scripture that hits you like a 2x4 in your head and says don’t forget me! To me that’s James 1:2

James 1:2 is just that sort of Scripture, it says: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,”

Is he saying there is such a thing as “all joy,” or is he saying all that you are going through is to be counted joy?

If we read it “all Joy” then we treat it like it is a detergent meant to be used to wipe away all our trials. But if it says that whatever trial we find ourselves in we are to count it as joy that is different.

You mean I am supposed to count all my difficulties joy?

“But you don’t know how bad my stuff is, you haven’t walked a mile in my shoes and had to deal with all I am having to deal with.”

I didn’t write this Scripture the Holy Ghost did. So let’s consider just who it is James is speaking to and how bad they have it when he says this.

James 1:1 ¶ James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

These are displaced people who have been driven from their homes! They’ve been separated from friends and family because they were scattered, now that is a pretty tough place to find yourself.

There is a reason the Holy Spirit is just in admonishing us to count it all joy when we are in the middle of trials. I hope you will return for the rest of the story as it develops on this blog through the week, you will be encouraged.