Trials, Humility and Happiness
The book of James tells us to count it all joy when we face trials of many kinds. And the more that we come to understand that the humbling experiences we go through are all for God's glory, the more we can learn to rejoice in our times of struggle and weakness.
Mike: The reality is when we hear the word, ‘humility,’ especially in our current culture, it has a very negative connotation. But the title of our segment today, Humility and Happiness, specifically comes against that idea. I have to admit, happiness is not the first feeling that comes to mind when I think about humility.
Jeff: It's so true. A lot of times we equate humility with a humiliating experience and it's true that it does not always feel like a positive thing. But Paul actually rejoiced in his weaknesses and over the things that grew the spirit of humility in him because through them he learned the secret that humility is the entrance to true happiness. That is where we find the Lord and that is where we come to understand He is everything in our lives. Instead of being afraid of things that will bring about humility in our lives, we really need to learn how to endure as Paul did. And we need to learn how to embrace humbling situations that God allows into our lives to help us get a sight of our weakness and our need for Him.
Mike: God does allow difficult circumstances and we may look at Paul’s life and think to ourselves, “Man, Paul was God's chosen man and look what the Lord took him through.” We look at that and we look at our own difficult experiences and I guess it kind of begs the question, what can we do that will help us to embrace those trials rather than to push ourselves away from them?
Jeff: Well, what sticks out to me is 2nd Corinthians 12. That’s where Paul says that he rejoiced in weakness so that the power of Christ may work through him. But really, I want to say it this way: we get a revelation of who Jesus is in the weak moments where we don't have what it takes and we have to turn to the Lord. We see more of the Lord. We experience more of His power and more of His grace in our lives.
And as you taste that in trials, it helps you embrace those moments of weakness because you begin to understand that's where you are going to find the Lord. That's where you are going to get a greater revelation of who He is. It will lead you to experience a revelation of His grace in your life, and will help you gain a sight of His power and mercy in your life. So, it really does pull you along and help you to embrace those trials.
Mike: I found it kind of works both ways. In receiving a sight of Jesus we begin to embrace humility and in embracing humility we also will gain a greater sight of Jesus.
Jeff: That is absolutely right. If we want to grow in our relationship with the Lord, we have to invite Him into our lives and give Him permission to bring things into our lives that will help us get to know Him in the way that Paul describes in 2nd Corinthians. We need to ask Him to let His fire come into our lives so that He can refine us and bring us to the place of knowing Him so that His power can be perfected in our weakness. We understand through the Scriptures that that is the only way it happens.
Mike: And that's a hard thing to ask. We say that we ought to do that. But in all honesty, that's hard to even get out of my mouth. By asking Him to bring the fire we are basically asking Him to crucify us.
Jeff: Yeah. But we need to remember His promise to us. That is really what we need to hold on to. He said if we count our trials as joy then He is going to produce something in us. And we have to believe that and hold on to it.
Mike: And it has to be rooted in our trust in Him, that He is good and that He has good in His heart for us. If we have a wrong perspective of God, thinking He is just up there to beat us up and make us as miserable as possible, and if we fail to see His promises, then it becomes almost impossible to ask God to do His work in us.
Jeff: It really does rest in our knowledge of His good and merciful character.
Mike: Amen. Well, Paul said that he learned to boast in his weaknesses. How do we know when we look at our own lives that we've learned that lesson?
Jeff: The next time someone criticizes you. Whether it's fair or not, how do you view it? Do you see it as an opportunity to be like Jesus or to draw near to Him? Or do you reject His character in that moment and rise up inside? Really, the way you can gauge if you have learned to boast in your weakness is how you welcome the situations into your life that bring about humility.
<pull-quote>Really, the way you can gauge if you have learned to boast in your weakness is how you welcome the situations into your life that bring about humility.<pull-quote><tweet-link>TweetThis<tweet-link>
Mike: I believe some people who read this will have that very thing happen today or tomorrow to test them. It’s not our natural inclination to respond with joy in those circumstances. I think sometimes when we experience the natural response of the flesh, we think, “Okay, there is no hope for me to grow in this area, I should just give up.” But if we recognize our flesh and stop for a moment to say, “Okay, that's my flesh. But I'm going to choose to listen to the Holy Spirit and I'm going to respond to this by the grace of God the way He is calling me to respond.” That's when God can begin to mature us and help us deal with those situations in the right way.
Jeff: Yeah, that's right Mike. I know one thing that helps me is looking to what the Word of God says. Like, “Count it all joy.” When I'm in a trial, a lot of times the Holy Spirit will bring that Scripture up. He’ll remind me that He wants to produce something in me through it. So, I need to count it all joy. I need to be thankful. I need to understand He’s in that situation and that He wants to bring good out of it. We need to grasp that truth instead of relying on our own thinking and perception of our trials. Trials can be good for us to go through if we let God use them the way He wants to in our lives.
<pull-quote>Trials can be good for us to go through if we let God use them the way He wants to in our lives.<pull-quote><tweet-link>TweetThis<tweet-link>
Mike: Well, we used the word train earlier and that's what God is doing. He’s training us. I guess what I am saying is to not get discouraged if tomorrow something happens and you don't automatically respond in joy. As we learn this and as we attempt to walk this out in faith, we gain a greater understanding that that's what's happening. Part of what's going on here and part of what happened in Paul’s life in learning to boast in his weaknesses is that he learned something that we call contentment. What's the secret of contentment?
Jeff: Well, I'm going to share a little testimony regarding this, because I just recently was going through some trials. Each time I go through a trial, I'm learning something about contentment. The bottom line is understanding that it's all for God's glory. It's all for God's good in my life, but more than that, it’s to glorify Him through my life. And when I come to understand that, I really am learning how to be content.
To have a relationship with Jesus with that kind of attitude is true contentment because contentment is knowing I am in His will and that He loves me. His purpose is being fulfilled in my life and I am glorifying Him with my life. So if I could conclude this whole talk on finding happiness in humility I would just say this: learn to be happy in your weaknesses. Learn to be happy in everything that can humble you and keep you low, because then the power of Christ will rest on you.
