Cheerful Endurance

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test of time, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12

In trying to gain a deeper understanding of this verse, I looked up the definition of hupomone, the word that was translated "is patient" in the King James Version and which is translated "perseveres" in the NIV, and I found the following commentary:

James says that we are to consider trials as a reason for great joy because trials are capable of producing good results. However, we must understand that trials do not automatically produce good results. They can easily make one bitter rather than better. Whether one comes out better for the experience depends upon how faith, hope, and love are used. How the trial is used is the issue, and whether faith, hope, and love produce a higher level of spiritual maturity. What determines whether they make us better rather than bitter is how we use them.

James describes a person surrounded by trials of many kinds. We live in that period when iniquity abounds, and we are admonished by Jesus that we will need endurance during this time (Matthew 24:12-13). We are surrounded by many kinds of trials, and they will increase. James is concerned about whether they will produce perseverance in us.

The King James version renders this word as "patience." That may be an acceptable translation, but it is not really correct. "Perseverance" or "endurance" is better, as most modern translations translate it. This is because the Greek word that equates to our "patience" is passive, meaning that one is merely waiting something out. But the Greek word used here, hupomone, indicates activity rather than passivity. The person is not just waiting for something to happen, though he is patient in what he is going through.

(By John W. Ritenbaugh at bibletools.org)

So I believe God is asking more of us than that we "be patient" during our times of trial (although at times that can seem like enough or even too much), but he wants us to look to him for help in USING our trials to mold us and shape us, so that our lives will better reflect him.

As if that is not enough, according to Strong's Bible Concordance, hupomone can also be translated as "cheerful or hopeful endurance." So now, not only do I have to be patient, but I have to enduring - actively striving forward toward a goal (running the race set for me by Christ) in the face of hardships and trials, and now I find that I am also supposed to be cheerful and hopeful as I am striving forward.

Does this sound like an absolutely impossible task? It probably is without God - without his help, his strength, and his comfort sustaining us.

However, the very definition of "hopeful endurance" helps to understand how and why were persevere in the face of trials. We have HOPE. Why do we have hope? Because we have faith in Christ. We have faith that he is who he says he is. We have faith that he can do all things. We have faith that he keeps his promises, that he will do what he says he will do.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11

If we truly take God at his word, then we know that whatever he allows into our lives is within his plans to prosper us, to give us a hope and a future.

We cannot know and understand all of God's plans for our lives.

"Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" (Romans 11:34)

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa. 55:8-9)

Our minds are not able to grasp all of God's ways, because his ways are so much higher than our ways, and our earthly perspective keeps us from being able to understand many of his plans for our lives. That is why we are called to trust in his promises - that even when it seems to us like everything is going wrong in our lives, God is in control and he WILL accomplish his purposes.

This reminds me of some of the things I read in "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom. It has been some time since I read the book, but she told the story of her family hiding Jews during WWII, and of the time she and some of her family members spent in a Nazi prison camp as a result of that. I remember one of the stories was about a conversation between Corrie and her sister Betsy about thankfulness. Corrie was complaining about the fleas that were a constant problem in the camp, biting the prisoners and causing additional suffering when they were already enduring such harsh conditions. Betsy said that they should be thankful for everything, even the fleas. Corrie just could not bring herself to be thankful for the fleas.

However, Corrie found later that God was using even those fleas to further his plans. Corrie and Betsy were leading Bible studies among the other prisoners. Normally, the guards watched over the prisoners closely and would not allow such a thing. But, she found out later, their dormitory of the barracks was so full of fleas that the guards tended to avoid going in there unless they had to. So Corrie and Betsy had much more opportunity to share the gospel with the women around them BECAUSE of those very fleas.

To me, that example is a good reason to cheerfully, hopefully endure afflictions.

I believe there if we persevere through trials, God will use that to bring about good both in this life (as in the example with the fleas) and in the life to come, as we see in the end of today's verse in James.

James says that if one endures through the trials in life for Christ's sake, he will "receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Lord Jesus, help me to cheerfully persevere in the face of adversity, striving forward along the path you have laid out for me, the path that leads to true life now and in eternity.