"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Romans 5:1-5)
Here is how the Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary describes patience:
"Patience is the quiet endurance of what we cannot but wish removed…"
In any of our lives there are either things we would like to be doing without (illness, disharmony in relationships, financial burdens…for example) or things we feel we should be enjoying but are not (excellent health, peaceful relationships, bigger income…you get the idea). In either case, we want the "experience" that we are dealing with to be removed and exchanged for something that would make us much happier….or so we think.
But God, in His wisdom, allows us to experience more than mere "happiness." There is happiness which is surface-shallow and fleeting, and then there is joy which is deep and long-lasting. His love for us desires that we experience "joy."
Some believe that "joy" is that which we experience when we leave the valley and arrive on the mountaintop. But I don't believe that is true.
I believe joy is that which we experience in the valley. In fact, I don't think we can experience joy without being in the valley, or in the midst of tribulation, whatever form that might take in each of our lives.
Tribulation, by the way, isn't always religious persecution. The word actually means "pressing, or a pressing together or pressure, oppression, affliction, distress, or being in straits."
Thus, whatever it is that is causing us distress, Paul says, is actually something we can "glory in" (meaning "to boast about"). Now that takes a different kind of attitude to be able to "boast about" the thing causing distress…in fact, I think it takes "fearlessness." And most of us find distressful situations to be full of fearful things, especially fear of how things are going to turn out, aka fear of the unknown. In fact, it is usually the distressful thing in the first place that causes us to be afraid which then causes us to become even more distressed. It can be a vicious cycle!
So why does Paul say we will "boast about" (which also means "rejoice in") distress?
What he actually is saying is that we will rejoice in it because of what we "know."
What is it then that we "know?"
Well, we "know" (we "understand, have regard for, discern, perceive, pay attention to") the fact that "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ!" Knowing this is an attitude changer when it comes to fear.
"And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but, rather, fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)
Is there really anything more fearful than the wrath of an angry God?
Yet, we know, because we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, that God is with us and for us. Therefore what is to be feared?
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)
Well, what about fearing for a loved one who doesn't know God and who is dying? That is fearful to think of, if we agree with the Word that hell is a place of everlasting torment for those who reject Jesus Christ; His Son being God's plan for our salvation.
But you see, we also know that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him:
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)
We have sought Him, we have found Him through Jesus Christ, and now we wait for the reward, the treasure at the end of the treasure hunt. That is faith. We have faith in His promises being true; we pay attention to His promises, His Word, we give more regard to His promises than we do to the distress, even though we are still distressed, it does not get our attention as much as God gets our attention. This is not denying the reality of the cause of distress; denial is simply replacing reality with a lie, a false reality. Denial does nothing for us or for our situation.
Faith instead is acknowledging the reality, but raising our gaze to God rather than leaving it focused on the reality, even as we, in our physical bodies, experience the distress of the reality. We continue to endure the distress, but we do so while waiting expectantly for the change in the reality that we know WILL happen!
In the midst of tribulation, we hope for (or wait expectantly for) God's promises to be manifested into and in the midst of our reality.
So, in the case of having an unsaved loved one, who might soon be standing before the Lord in judgment having no garments of righteousness through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ with which to cover himself, we wait for God's power that saved us, to save them as well…because God is with us, loves us, rewards us, gives us things that we ask when we ask in complete faith knowing that we have already received them because He is a good God. And we have asked, persistently, even with fasting prayers, for His promise to be manifested into our reality.
Thus, if we are in the valley, in a place of distress, we don't "deny" the distress…we don't pretend it is all ok when it isn't. God tells us to mourn with those who mourn and to rejoice with those who rejoice. There is a time to cry as well as a time to rejoice. It isn't showing a lack of faith to cry or to be in distress. It is the reality of the sin-laden world we live in. We mourn, rightfully so, over those who are not yet saved.
But even in the midst of our tears, in the very midst of the greatest distress we have ever experienced, we pay attention to or "look for" that which we "know" is coming: the manifestation of God's promise to reward us, to bless us, not because we have done something to deserve it, but simply because He is who He is: the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him; the One who blesses those who have sought Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, the only Way to the Father.
Thus, through patient endurance of that which we wish was removed from us, we experience that expectant waiting for, that hope that only God can give us, for His promises to be manifested in the midst of our reality; and when they do, for they MUST because God's promises are TRUE, we break out in rejoicing and boasting about the goodness of our God towards us and our loved ones!
What a triumph to boast about! Who remembers the pain in the midst of such triumph and rejoicing!?! God's Word is TRUE and we want the entire world to know it!
God gives us grace through the Holy Spirit to patiently endure the experience of tribulation all the while waiting expectantly for the truth of God's own glory!
That's what Paul is saying.
And that is what I am expectantly waiting for here in my valley of tribulation.
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