How can we have Joy in Hard times?

Date: April 12, 2026
Series: Fruitful Faith - James
Passage: James 1:1-8
Preacher: Pastor Sammy Rodriguez

Transcript

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If you would open up your Bibles to the book of James. If you do not have a Bible, there should be a Bible there in the seat in front of you. We're starting our brand new series in the book of James where we're going to be walking through this book of the Bible verse by verse. So if you're new here, if it's the first time you've come back in a long time, it's a perfect time to jump in with us to walk through this book of James together. Have you ever had a moment where it felt like your life was falling apart? Maybe you were going through a financial crisis and then your car breaks down. Maybe you started taking steps towards recovery in your health and then received bad news from the doctor. Maybe everything around in your life was in chaos, and the one place you thought you can find peace was in your home. But there was more turmoil there. We can think back on some of these moments, or even the moment we're in now, and what usually is our response when we go through these trials? Confusion? Anger? Sadness, anxiety, being overwhelmed, hopeless? What if I told you that the Bible gives us a way that in the middle of trials and in sufferings in our life we could have joy? Now some of you may think that's impossible. How can I have joy in this financial crisis? How can I have joy when my family's falling apart? How can I have joy when I've lost my job? How can I have joy when I've lost someone I love? Or when everything is falling apart. And for some of us today, these aren't moments we look back on. For some of us, you may be there right now in the storms of life. And I'm here to tell you that the word of God in our text that we're going to read this morning, the Lord gives us a path to have joy in the worst of life's circumstances. And I'm not talking about a fake joy, a mask of a smile to put on your face, but a true joy that goes deep into the heart and expresses peace in the Lord Jesus. And so the question that our passage in James will answer today is how can we have joy in hard times? How can we have joy in hard times? And so here at Adold, we believe in the power and in the truth and the word of God. And so out of respect and reverence, we stand in the reading of God's word. We are a church that is grounded in the Bible. Amen? And so when we come here on Sunday, we come hungry and expectant to hear from the Lord. So here, starting in James chapter 1, verses 1 through 8. It says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For the person, for that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Pray with me, Lord Jesus. We ask for your help. God, there are many of us right now who are going through trials of life. And if right now we're not going through that, there may be a season of that we're about to enter, and we have no idea. And so I pray that this word would be timely for all of us. That even in the midst of life's trials, joy can be found in you. So be here with us now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So before we answer this question of how can we have joy in hard times, it's important for us to have a brief introduction of James, this book that we're going to be walking through. If I could describe the book of James in two words, it would be this prove it. Prove it. What do I mean by that? See, James is a book about not talking about your faith, but doing it, living it out. Don't just say it, show it. That if you have faith in Jesus, if you believe in Jesus, prove it. In the 108 verses in James, there are 59 different commands that we'll see. And so why is James, this book, relevant for us today, for the church, right now? For many of us today, we've we've grown up or we've been around a surface-level Christianity where it's enough to say you follow Jesus, but not actually obey him and live in a way where Jesus is your true King and your Lord, where it actually affects your everyday life. So I believe this book will be valuable for us to walk through that, to learn how to practice our faith. And so we'll start by walking through these first eight verses together. So I hope you have your Bibles open as we dive in here in the first verse, verse one. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, whenever you're trying to dive into a book of the Bible to study it, to dive in deep, there's two very important questions to ask. First is the author, who's the author, and who's the audience? Who is this, who wrote this letter, this book, and who was this book written for? Who was it intended for? Who's the audience? So verse one answers both those questions. James is the author. And so most scholars agree that the James who's introducing himself here is the half-brother of Jesus. Can you imagine being the half-brother of Jesus? And you know, your mother Mary saying, I wish you were more like your brother Jesus. Or when you guys are trying to take a bathtime together, Jesus is just walking on the water. You know, I couldn't imagine what that would be like. But he was the half-brother of Jesus. But James was also the leader of the first church of Jerusalem. So James was someone significant. And I love how he starts this book. He doesn't start at James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem. James, the half-brother of Jesus, because if I was the half-brother of Jesus, I'd use that title. No, he says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, there's no better title, no greater honor than being a servant of Jesus Christ. So we see who wrote this letter, this book. Who is it written to? We see that in the second part of verse 1. To the twelve tribes in the dispersion greetings. This is referring to the people of Israel that were made up of twelve tribes. And the audience of the time were Jewish Christians who lived all around the world. And the Jewish people were living in all parts of the world. But secondly, persecution during this time in Jerusalem caused Christian Jews to scatter to different places. And so James is writing to them. And so verse 2, he starts with the command count it all joy. Seems like an understandable command. When we look at the Old and the New Testament, we see over and over this command to rejoice, to have joy in the Lord. But it's the second part of that verse that's the issue. Count it all joy, or consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. First thing to note here, James doesn't say if you meet trials. He says when you meet trials. Because we know that living in this world, suffering is not a choice. We live in a broken world where there's death and hunger and war and disease, and people hurt us and we hurt others. It's not a choice, it's something we will walk through. The sufferings of life. And this Greek word here for meat, or maybe your translation, says a face, it can be translated to fall. It's saying to fall into various trials. That's a word that really describes what suffering looks like for us. It's not a choice that we made and said, this is the path I want, this is what I want to happen, but it's oftentimes what we fall into, to suffering. It happens. That Greek word also here for fall also implies to be encompassed, to be surrounded by trials, to be surrounded by suffering. That's what it feels like, doesn't it? Like there's no way out. Or there's nowhere to go. We're surrounded. And so the question is: how can we have joy in hard times? How can we have joy in the trial? Look at verse 3 and 4. It says, For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Or here, patience. That's what steadfastness means. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. To have patience. So this is the first point. How can we have joy in hard times? Rejoice in the Lord's purposes. Rejoice in the Lord's purposes. What James is saying here is that the Lord can use trials and sufferings in our life to help us become more like Him. To help us to be patient. To help us to grow lacking in nothing, to be complete. Because we need to understand this. The call of the Christian life is to become more like Jesus. That's our purpose. That's why we're here. To become more like Jesus. And to follow Him. See, trials test our faith. We see that word test. Again, the book of James is what? Described in two words, prove it. It's saying you may say you believe in Jesus, but then when the rubber hits the road, when the trial comes, when the suffering is present, do you actually have joy in him? We're just saying Christ is my firm foundation. The rock in which I stand. Those trials in our lives will test that to see if our foundation is in Christ or if it's in something else. So how can we make sure we rejoice in the Lord's purpose as we see this in verse 4? And let steadfastness or patience have its full effect, meaning finish its work in you, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. It says suffering produces patience. And patience in you creates maturity. It creates spiritual growth. It brings us closer to the call to be like Christ. You know, a perfect example of this is yesterday morning, me and Brother Joel over here were working out. Right? I don't know if you've seen Joel, but man, he's built. And I'm just trying to get there one day. But we're working out. What is working out? When you're lifting these weights, you're putting your muscles under tension. Right? And as you're lifting these weights and tearing and breaking down the muscle, what happens is day after day, those muscles begin to be repaired and become stronger. We're able to lift more than you did before. And that's the same thing with our faith. That when we go through trials, when we go through suffering, our faith begins to have tension, to be stretched out. And so God uses that. Joel didn't know I was going to call him out. If you see him, just thank him and say this is the way he's serving our church, just to make sure that you have a pastor who's in good health. Look at Paul's words in Romans 5. It's so similar to what we're reading here in James. Verses 3 through 4. Not only that, but we rejoice in our suffering. Knowing, let's stop there. Do you see this? James says, know. You saw that in verse 2, 3, I believe? For you know. We see that in verse 3 in James 1. For you know. And now we see it again. Paul's saying, knowing that suffering produces endurance. And endurance produces character, and character produces hope. See, this is an issue of knowing. When you know what God is doing in the suffering, it changes everything. And if you don't know it, then you can't have joy. It's impossible. It says that suffering produces endurance. And endurance character and character hope. Here's a question: what was the type of suffering that the people, the audience James is writing to? What were they walking through? As I stated earlier, James was a leader of the Church of Jerusalem. And so after the stoning of Stephen, the church scatters, it disperses. And there's persecution. People stoned, killed. Families pulled apart from each other. People thrown in prison on the run for your life. This wasn't just some little trial. They were suffering. And James knew that, and yet he starts this second verse. Consider joy. Consider joy. And so here's the disconnect, and why it's so hard to believe we can have joy in hard times. Because as long as you believe that life is about being comfortable, you will never find joy and suffering. As long as you believe that, that the goal to life is being comfortable, you will never have joy and suffering. If life is about everything going well, then you can forget about having joy and trials. But if life is about becoming like Christ, if your life is about character over comfort, then you can have joy. If your life is about conforming to Jesus more than conforming to the world, then you can have joy. And that's my job as your pastor is to help you understand that. It's not about comfort and pursuing your pleasures and the world, but Christ. And we need to have a theology of suffering. What does that mean? Like an understanding of suffering biblically. Because we are going through it, or we have, or we will. And we need to know how can I have joy in that hard time? Because I know for many of you, not all of you, I've heard the suffering in your life. And I want you to know there is joy found in Jesus. There is hope in Jesus Christ. How can we enjoy in hard times? Rejoice in the Lord's purposes. That purpose is to make you mature, to make you more like Him. Second point, be patient in the Lord's timing. Be patient in the Lord's timing. Usually in suffering, we want it to be over as soon as possible. Because suffering hurts. I mean, think about it when you go to a dentist's office, you go to the doctor appointment. Like my wife Mariah, she hates when she has to give blood and draw blood. Like she is just thinking about how quick that process can be. And I remember there was one time when we were serving overseas in South Asia, there was to seem like a new nurse who didn't know what was going on, and she was just poking and prodding and trying to find the vein, and she was bleeding everywhere, and it was horrible. Right? And we're just thinking, like, this needs to be done quick, or think about the dentist. When they're doing work or they're putting the shots in your gums or whatever, you're just like, it feels like eternity. And you just can't wait for it to stop. And we we do the same. It's only natural and hardship that when we're going through those trials, we want to get it over with. That if we have illness or pain in our bodies, that'd be over. Tension in our relationships, that'd be finished. But here, what James is saying is be patient in the Lord's timing. This Greek word patient can be broken into two parts. The first part of the word means under, and the second part of the word means remain. It's this idea of remaining under. This word patient in the original language, it doesn't give an idea of patiently waiting for your order in a restaurant. This word patient more, it gives a picture of the patience and endurance of a runner. That although everything in your body is screaming to stop, your lungs, your heart, your knees is just, I can't take it anymore. That's the patience to keep on going, to press on. So what do we do in hard times of life? When the weight of our suffering is upon us. See, there is nothing wrong with asking for God to finish the trial. There's nothing wrong to say, God, I can't take it. Help me. But there is something wrong when we become bitter at God when He doesn't take us out of the suffering in our timing. And we need to trust His to go back to this that image of the medical procedure of going to a doctor or dentist. We want it to be fast, we want it to be over as soon as possible. But what if it's a life or death surgery? In that moment, you don't want to rush the doctor. You're not saying hurry up, so they do a bad job. You're saying take your time. Do whatever it takes to heal me. And sometimes in our lives, God isn't doing a quick fix, He's doing a deep work. And if we rush the process, we might miss the healing He's trying to accomplish. Right? Here's what I want to make sure that we don't have a misunderstanding. Standing on. Is if your suffering is due to the abuse of another person, that I'm not saying to be patient in that environment. That's something you ask for help, you run and flee from. And it's important to understand, even in this, when we're talking about God and being patient under his mighty hand and in the suffering, that God is not the author of evil. But often he will use the pain that others cause for his glory. And for us to become more like him, we need to trust in his timing. Here's the thing: we may say, God, I don't understand why I'm in this mess. I don't understand why you haven't healed me or healed them or helped us. But God, I trust you. I trust that you have a purpose. I trust your timing that you're in control. First point. How can we have joy in hard times, rejoice in the Lord's purposes, be patient in the Lord's timing? And third, ask for the Lord's wisdom. Verse 5. If any of you lacks wisdom, anyone in here? If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. When we go through trials in life, we will all need wisdom. We'll need it. Maybe for some of us you had a parent or a grandparent who was wise and they would pass down that wisdom. Family member, a friend, and maybe those people aren't here anymore. Maybe they've passed on, and you think, man, if I could just have that conversation with them. I just need wisdom from them. Can I tell you, brothers and sisters, there is someone far wiser. There is an all-knowing, all-wise creator God. And what does it take to have wisdom? It takes knowledge, it takes experience, it takes perspective. Does God have those? Does God have knowledge? The one who knows all things, nothing is hidden, nothing missed, nothing misunderstood. Experience? What about the one who has no beginning and no end? Who has seen every moment in history unfold and never once has been surprised? Perspective? What about the one who sits on the throne of heaven, who sees not just your situation, but your heart and the heart of every man and woman? He is wise. And here's the beautiful thing of verse 5. Look at it. It says, He gives what? Sparingly? Just a little bit? No, he gives generously. To some? No, it says to all without reproach. And maybe it'll be given? No. It will. It should move us. And in trials we can call out, God, give me wisdom. I don't know the choices to make it. I feel surrounded. I don't know how I'm gonna make it to tomorrow. God, give me wisdom even now in this moment. God, give me wisdom. And he will give it to us. But the reason oftentimes we don't go to God is we go to lesser sources. When the trial comes, right? The trials again they test us. We may sing what a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and grief to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. We may sing that, but when suffering comes and we need advice, we need wisdom, we turn to others before God. We turn to books before we turn to the author of this world. We turn to our earthly friends before we turn to a heavenly father. We turn to ourselves before we turn to the Savior. And this isn't just asking for wisdom, it's asking for peace, for power, that he would give it to us in that time of need and that suffering. There was a moment for me when I was a couple years back, this was in early 2020, and we were trekking in the mountains of Nepal, and we were going to the unreached peoples and these villages far off in the middle of nowhere in the Himalayas. And we were on the fifth day carrying really 70-pound bags on our back, trekking up these what they what are mountains to us, but the Nepali people call them hills because Mount Everest is uh right over there, right? You can see it. So these are hills, but they're mountains for us. And we would trek and trek and trek, and we're carrying all our clothes and our food and all that we have. We don't know where we're gonna stay, what's going on. We're just going one place to another. We're eating this village food, some of us are getting sick. And I remember on the fifth day, I was done. I was so beyond done. I remember the partners being concerned. They were calling some of our friends back in the city. They're saying, hey, we might have to turn back. Or we're gonna see how they are in the morning. I remember that night I was shivering. Not because I was cold, but I was in complete shock. My body was in shock. And I just called out to God, God, help me. I had nowhere else to go. I had nowhere else to turn to. I was in the middle of nowhere. And there are people who needed the gospel. And the last thing I wanted was for us to go back because I couldn't keep on going. I said, God, help me. And I cannot describe it other than the miracle of God of waking up that morning without being sore, without being tired and renewed and strength. And this is where it's not just about wisdom, but when we're in trials to go to God and say, God, I have nowhere else to turn to. And I've been turning to other things except you. And you know what's interesting here in James 1, this word for trial can actually be translated either trial or temptation. Because that's what trials do, that's what suffering does. Because either it'll bring us before God or it'll make us go to our vices. That when we're struggling, we'll go back to the old habits, we'll go to the world, we'll go to our sin rather than going to God and fall into temptation. But we have a God who listens and gives to us generously. Last point, how can we have joy in trials? Have faith in the Lord's promises. Have faith in the Lord's promises. Verses 6 through 8. It says, but let him ask in faith, with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. If we're going to ask God for wisdom in the trials of life, we must not doubt. The one who doubts is like a wave driven and tossed by the wind. I love what this commentator says, David Guzick, about the wave. He says, a wave of the sea is without rest, and so is the doubter. A wave of the sea is unstable, and so is the doubter. A wave of the sea is driven by the winds, so is the doubter. A wave of the sea is capable of great destruction, and so is the doubter. Waves of the sea are unstable and not grounded. Verse 7 for that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. If you ask the Lord in doubt, you should not expect to receive anything. Why? Because you doubt his character. You doubt his goodness. His promises of what his word says, that he is gracious, that he will give to all those who ask. And yet he's so gracious to us that even in our doubting, there's times he'll answer us. Not in the way that we want, but in the way that's best. Verse 8, he is double-minded, the one who doubts, and unstable in all his ways. Sometimes it's in the testing of hardship that we see what we really are. Double-minded. What does that mean? It's to say one thing and to live another. God, I trust you with all my resources, but I keep them for myself and not for your kingdom. God, I believe that you are better than anything, but during this hard time I run to my sin instead of you. If we're going to rejoice in hard times, we need to have faith in God's promises that He's good, that He's better, faith in His Word, that He's generous. And where is God's promises found? It's in His Word. I just want to take a moment to speak to the students, to those younger or inexperienced, or who maybe you've left lived a pretty easy life. Yes, I there were trials, there were issues for some of us growing up. But what I want to tell you for those of you who are who have not walked through or who will walk through the hardship of life, you need to be prepared and you need the word of God. You need to remember this. You need to write down these verses, James chapter 1, Romans 5 to come back to. And when suffering happens to come to the word and the promises of God, he will hold you. Joy can be found in hard times because joy can be found in Jesus. Right? And it's in the hard times that we realize Jesus is all that we need. And here's the thing sometimes there's this misunderstanding with what joy is. Right? There's this idea, and maybe you've heard this of there's a difference between happiness and joy. And there is. You say, I'm not happy, but I have joy. And they don't look like they have smiled in weeks. There's this idea like joy is like less expressive when it's more true joy, delight, gladness in God that I may be going through something. But there is, like we say, peace beyond understanding. A peace that makes no sense. I have joy. Psalm 1611 says this. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Joy is found in God and becoming like him. There is joy in God. And there's this misconception that when I decide to follow Jesus, I have to get rid of my joy and what makes me happy. No, it is Jesus that's the only one that can fill that up. And sometimes we won't know that until the trial, until we've tested the world and seen how it failed. And then we see how Jesus fills us with that joy. Our joy is a testament to the world. That when the world sees us in a place where we should have no peace. Where by their standards there should be no joy. Yet we still give praise. We still delight in God. We still rejoice in worship. It's a testament of how good our God is. That He is enough for us. And God isn't wasting your pain. He's not. I need you to believe that He is not wasting your pain. He wants to use it. That you would become like His Son. He's doing something with it. There's an old illustration of a blacksmith who heats a piece of iron over and over again. He heats it over and over and goes through this process over and over again to take out all impurities. And someone asked the blacksmith, he said, How do you know when it's ready? How do you know when it's done? The blacksmith says, When I can see my reflection in it. And that's what God is doing in our trials. He's not trying to destroy you, he's trying to refine you. He allows the heat, but he's not trying to burn you. But to remove what doesn't belong until his image is seen clearly in your life. And that's why Joe James can say, rejoice in trials. So don't run from the heat, don't rush the process, don't resist what God is doing. Because one day, through the pressure, through the pain, through the waiting, God will look at your life and He will see His reflection in you. And maybe some of you may think this God doesn't understand my pain. Firstly, God sees your heart. Secondly, we have a God who in the death of his friend wept. We have a God who was hungry in the wilderness. We have a God who was tempted by the enemy. We have a God who bled in the garden. We have a God who was pierced and died on a cross. He knows. He was there abandoned, my friends. He knows pain. He knows suffering. He knows what you're going through. And he can hold you up. And he says, cast your cares onto me. Call out to me. And if God can use the worst thing to ever happen in this world, the death of his son. The abuse of Jesus Christ for the greatest good. That he can take that problem in your life and use it for your glory. Even if you don't understand. Let's pray, Lord Jesus. I pray for joy. God, you see the troubles and trials that people are going through right now. God, you see what they are about to walk into. And God, I pray that you would prepare us to walk into joy. God, that some of us may be able to look back at our circumstances and look at the trials and thank you for what it's doing in our life. God, I pray for this moment as we respond and worship and respond to your word.