The Choice to Rejoice

Everywhere the apostle Paul went, there was either a riot or a revival. Paul never had a boring day in his life that we know of. There was always something going on with him.

Yet Paul didn’t merely endure these experiences but rejoiced in them. He wrote, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation” (Romans 5:3–4 NLT).

Paul was describing the kind of trials in which there’s nothing we can do to make them go away. But when Paul went through those hardships, he made the choice to rejoice. And we have that same choice before us.

I can’t control what happens around me, try as I may. But I can control how I react. When difficulties come my way, when things that seem unfair happen to me, when I’m going through a time of hardship, I can choose to be better or bitter.

Some people choose the latter. They’re bitter. They’re mad at God, mad at the world, and mad at their family. They’re mad at everything.

However, others say, “Lord, I don’t know why you’ve allowed this, and I wish you wouldn’t allow it. But I want to be better. I want to learn through this.”

Some trials that come into our lives are short-lived. But others don’t go away, and there’s no way around them. So what should we do?

We need to put our hope in God.

Remember, Paul said, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.” Maybe you don’t understand it at the moment, but there’s a reason for what you’re going through. God is working through it. And He never will let you down.