Joyful Problems
Recently, I spoke with a man who shared some of his “joyful problems”. I honestly don’t remember what they were, but that phrase stuck with me…”Joyful Problems”. The two words hardly seem like they can go together. One might think if you have problems, you would not have joy or if you have joy, you would not have problems. Surely they both can’t exist at the same time! Oh, but they can. That my friends is the difference between Joy and Happiness. Joy has nothing to do with what is going on around you, but everything with who lives in you (Jesus).
The Bible is full of verses that talk about having joy in our problems.
James 1:2-4 ESV
“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.”
Romans 5:3-5 ESV
“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
1 Peter 4:13 ESV
“But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”
It’s worth noting that this man would not describe himself as particularly religious (his dad was Jewish and mom Episcopal), so this “joyful problems” idea can translate to those who do identify as Christians as well. From what I can tell he coined a phrase I will never forget.
Listening to the man, I was reminded that some things we consider problems are really privileges. Yes, we are overwhelmed at work, but thankfully we have jobs to go to. Yes, we have so many bills to pay, but by the grace of God every one of them is paid on time and there is money left over to save. We have muffin tops from overindulging in food and now have to work out and be more discipline to get certain results, thank God we have food to overindulge in. Someone would love to have our problems. I’ve heard it said before that if everyone were to lay out their problems and see their neighbors, we would all want our own problems back. I believe it.
The next time I get ready to form my lips to complain about a “problem”, I am going to do my best to switch the words to those of gratitude, because I have so much to be grateful for. The very things I sometimes think of as problems are actually answers to former prayers. The problems I have I’m thankful for. They’ve changed as I’ve changed. Some might say they’ve increased, but so have I. There’s not one problem I have that’s too big for God, therefore there is not one problem I have that’s too big for me. Same goes for you too.