"Strange as it may seem, one of the primary purposes of being shaken by suffering is to make our faith more unshakable," John Piper writes as a meditation on James 1:2-3.

I have been turning more to the verses in times when I have been shaken by trials and sufferings, from daily toil to more existential crises, that this suffering is for good, not the darkness that I feel in the present.

"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." James 1:2-4 said.

I remember when I first took a cold shower this past year, and I began doing it for reasons that were purely not spiritual in nature: our house had a very limited supply of hot water that we unequally shared between seven people, and I also wanted to save the water bill, knowing that I would spend far less time in an ice-cold shower than in a warm shower. And I distinctly remember the first thing I did when I stepped into a cold shower was scream, at full volume. Two of my roommates barged into the bathroom to ask if I was okay, to which I responded in the affirmative. It would take weeks before I would fully get used to it and accept it into my routine.

Again, the act of taking cold showers, which was one of pure utility, was not spiritual in nature. But it is a trivial trial that I have used to test my faith. Eventually, I came to the awareness that stepping into a cold shower was just 10 seconds of shock to the body, and then would love me feeling much better than I ever did in a hot shower, and my faith that it was just a short trial of shock that led to greater good.

Taking cold showers is extremely trivial, but it became an analogy for the larger issues that I was facing. The rule prescribed by James 1 clearly applies to many parts of my life, such as running, working, and relationships tested by conflict. I learned in a psychology class that even in rhesus macaques, conflict often made relationships stronger. It was a term that my professor called post-conflict resolution.

"Faith is like muscle tissue," Piper writes. "If you stress it to the limit, it gets stronger, not weaker." Steadfastness is the ability of the human spirit, when its faith is shaken, to endure and endure more and more. "God loves faith so much that he will test it to the breaking point so as to keep it pure and strong." 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, from the Apostle Paul, asks us to be aware of "the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself." Paul and his friends have "received the sentence of death," and that was, in fact, a great thing because it made Paul "rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead."

All suffering has purpose, and the purpose Paul found is not relying on himself and his resources but on the grace of God to raise people from the dead. "God so values our wholehearted faith that he will, graciously, if necessary, take away everything else in the world that we might be tempted to rely on - even life itself." Our faith and confidence in God become so strong that realize that God is all we need.

Psalms 73:26 echoes this point brilliantly saying that "my flesh and my heart may fail,/ but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." James wanted us to not only profess our faith, but to practice it through going through trials time and time again where we realize that God is the only person we can rely on, so we can live more like God. In James 1:1, James acknowledges that he is writing to "the twelve tribes in the Dispersion," suggesting that he was writing to Christians who have been refugees who have been persecuted and are now in exile.

It is radical to have an attitude like that of James towards suffering and afflictions. "Count it all joy" when we're facing loss of family and close friends, financial instability, and persecution is not an easy thing to do by any stretch. But James is not alone as a follower of Christ in his regard for suffering as joy: Peter said in 1 Peter 4:13 to "rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings" and Paul says in Romans 5:3 to "rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance."

Steven J. Cole, the former senior pastor of Flagstaff Christian Fellowship, urges us to follow the advice of James, Peter, and Paul and to see joy in suffering, knowing that we need to think of our suffering from a biblical perspective, at least once the powerful emotions when we encounter strong trials subside. In our processing, we have to accept trials and suffering as expected, not as a surprise, because James says "when you meet trials of various kinds," not if. Prosperity Gospel and many Christians, for that matter, believe that simply believing in God and obeying the Lord spares us from suffering and trials, and when trials do come, those people get angry with God.

But the Bible shows us that even God and Jesus's beloved apostles encounter heavy trials, trials that aren't used as the consequence of disobedience, but what God uses to "test our faith." "We cannot understand why He sends the particular trials that He does," Cole writes. "but whatever they are, we can know that they are from Him." And Cole takes James's guidance a step further in telling us that we must accept the emotional pain that comes with our trials rather than denying it, much like Jesus wept with Mary after the death of Lazarus. According to Hebrews 5:7, when Jesus died on the cross, he "offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears." So James does not urge us to pretend like we feel joy when we hurt: we have to accept the pain.

And amidst grief, what James teaches us is that not only do we have joy in grief, but we have hope. As Christians, "our response to trials should distinguish us from the world. Underneath the grief and tears, there should be the serene confidence that God is in control." One of the most popular Bible verses, Jeremiah 29:11, tells us that God has plans for us, "plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Our natural human inclination is to avoid pain and suffering. but out Christian attitude and joy is to not seek out pain and suffering, but look to a God in control when it comes as part of His plan.

In suffering, what is being tested most is not our natural strength, and we should not proceed with the "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger" attitude. Rather, it is our faith that is tested, and we can never know our faith is genuine until we come under surefire trials of it. Cole uses the analogy of a waterproof jacket, which we only know truly works if we test that jacket in the rain. If a jacket keeps us dry, then we have faith that the jacket truly is waterproof.

And so we only know if our faith is genuine when we face strong trials that give us all the reason to renounce our faith. "To trust God and experience His hope and joy in the midst of trials is a radical attitude that James commands us to adopt." And it is so reassuring, according to Cole, that through every trial and suffering I have endured, God has been sovereign and in control. If God is sovereign over snow, rain, and heat, then He "ordained all the days of our lives before we were ever born." That means God is sovereign over what we would consider the nasty things in life, too, like natural disasters. If we deny God's sovereignty over our trials, we deny that God "is purposefully working those trials for our ultimate good."

And like we build endurance as athletes, we build endurance in our spirituality through our trials. Trials by faith lead us to be stronger for the next trial, "know[ing] we can endure, because we've already been through previous trials. And when we endure trials by faith, with joy, it brings glory to our Lord and Savior." Trials and sufferings are used by God to help us build enduring faith.

Lastly, James asks us to "let steadfastness have its full effect," suggesting that we need to submit to God. And sometimes we have a misconception that to surrender and submit to God means to passively endure. Instead, we should pray for what we want and use means to better our circumstance, but at the same time echo Jesus's words in the Garden of Gethsemane that "Your will be done." Surrender is instead an attitude that allows us to turn to God through all trials, in faith and prayer, and not think we can press on without a savior.

And although that surrender to God's process is a process, not an instant fix. And when we meet the state described in James 1:4 as "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing," James does not mean a state where we don't sin. He means a spiritual maturity that is ready for any trial thrown at us, for the purpose of God and what God calls us to do.

So let's count it as joy when we meet suffering and trials, so we may be perfect in our faith and realize that everything is for good. Everything is grace.