Rejoice in Your Pain

Devotional Reading: We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. Romans 5:3 NLT

God says that we should rejoice in or problems. Impossible or difficult we may say but that’s what God calls you to do. It says to rejoice when you experience a setback, a disappointment, a heartache. Rejoice when you have car trouble or didn’t catch the bus. Rejoice when you have back pain, when you hear the doctor’s report.

Rejoice, not because of those things, but in those things. Take joy. Choose to rejoice, to give praise, to give thanks. Don’t complain or grumble or whine. Don’t cry out, “How could God do this to me?” Rather, choose joy.

But why? Why do we rejoice in this pain and mess? Well, basically because God says to, and because He’s God. But we can say more. Romans 5:3 continues with, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3-4).

God uses these sufferings, painful though they may be, to build our faith, to shape our souls, and to grow our hearts. We need them although not pleasant, they aren’t a waste. C.S. Lewis says it this way “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

James puts it this way, “count it all Joy…” (James 1:2)

Prayer and Confession
LORD, to the flesh it is impossible to be joyful in my pain. But teach me Jesus by your Spirit to rejoice even in my sufferings. Amen!

Further Reading: James 1:2-3, Philippians 4:4