Unless we face—and persist through—difficulty, we will make no progress; and only by a desire to please God will we find the joy that spreads to others.  But, you may ask, how, when times are really tough, can we actually do this?  Why is it that most people are miserable—or at best, stoic—instead of joyful when they encounter difficulties in life?

Karl Barth suggests an answer: “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.”  It is easy to be grateful—and thus, joyful—when our lives seem full of good things.  But when we face hard times, the difficulty looms large and often gets in the way of our seeing all that we still have to be thankful for.  Perhaps we would do well to face each challenge beginning with a bit of gratitude.

Are you struggling with your studies?  Start by being thankful that God gave you teachers and parents who desire to help you.  Are you sick or injured? Start by giving thanks that you have doctors and medicine for treatment and a comfortable bed to rest in.  Do you miss a friend who moved away? Be grateful that you can stay in touch with them and even take an airplane to visit.  In every hardship, there is always something for which we still can be thankful.  And if we start with gratitude, then joy in the face of difficulty won’t seem so out of reach.

Alistair Begg, a pastor in Cleveland, recounted having received a note from someone at a conference.  The note said: “A friend was suffering through brain cancer and its treatments.  His relationship with Jesus was such that the nurse wrote as a critical comment on his medical chart, ‘Mr. X is inappropriately joyful.”  

My challenge to you—my challenge to all of us: Are we filled with sufficient gratitude that others find us inappropriately joyful in the face of difficulty?