Joyful Tribulation

April 17, 2020

My original plan was to read through Romans in one setting, but along the way, my attention and therefore my progress, got arrested at numerous places. Today it was chapter 12, verse 12: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, steadfast in prayer.” When I read that, I thought, “I’ve heard that before.” It was in chapter 5.

“through [Christ] also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” —Romans 5:2-4 NKJV

The similarities are startling. Rejoicing in hope, and tribulation are common to both passages. In the fifth chapter, Paul gives us the progression of faith in troubles: “tribulation produces perseverance which produces character which produces hope. As I commented recently, I’ve learned a bit how that works as we persevere through troubles develops our character and we learn that there is precious little in this life to give hope, so we look to eternal life in Christ. That’s the path, but in 12:12, Paul gives us the process.

We rejoice in hope only as we are patient and enduring in tribulations, as we let tribulation do its work (as James says in 1:4). We learn through suffering that this world cannot give us the hope we need, so we begin to hope in eternal things which enables us to joyfully rise above troubles. This is not a pie-in-the-sky fantasy, but a genuine transformation of our thinking that comes through suffering (see Romans 12:2). 

The key difference in these two texts is when Paul brings prayer into the mix. Prayer is the catalyst that effects the change in attitude. When I face troubles prayerfully, not as mere begging God to take it away, but seeking him in the midst of it, everything changes. While I may still pray to be spared the trouble (think of the Lord’s Prayer—“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”), if I enter trials prayerfully, I am also asking God what I need to learn and how I can draw nearer to him. 

A lifetime ago when I was in seminary, Linda and I were dirt poor. We had gone from making $12,000/year (yeah, it was that long ago!) to $5,500. Entertainment for us consisted of driving a couple miles to an enormous Toys R Us in Cicero, putting the boys (ages 2 and 4) in shopping carts and walking the aisles so they could play with whatever caught their fancy. We learned to trust God in ways we never had before, and when I graduated, we were debt free. We have often looked back on those years and wondered how we managed to do it. Fact is, we didn’t. God did. All we did was trust him, and our faith was more alive and vibrant than it had been before, and in many ways, since. Trials drive us to our knees. The rejoicing and hope of which Paul speaks is not automatic. It comes only as we learn through the troubles to let go of false hopes and cling to the only real and eternal hope we have: Jesus Christ.