James tells us to "consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials." (Jam. 1:2) How can one "consider" things all joy when you fall into trials of many different kinds? Your mate has run out on you and you feel the betrayal and intense pain. Consider that all joy? That loved one or child you lost to death, while your heart longs for their touch and laughter once more and consider it all joy? Are we to pretend joy or is this something genuine and real?
Let's start with Jesus in Gethsemane. Was He grinning and leaping about as He was facing a horrific death and separation from His Father? Just listen to the sound of His voice, the sobbing and agonizing pain and the the begging of His Father for another way. Did He count that as all joy? If He didn't, why would God expect us to do it?
To "consider it all joy" is an attitude within the heart because you realize the whole, not just the immediate. Jesus, when He was hurting, completely turned Himself over into the hand of God and His will knowing the whole. He trusted His Father and accepted the Father's will without complaint. That's considering it all joy! Jesus trusted the complete whole of things, not just one part.
Too many times we look at a single part, not the whole. When we don't see God's promises and intentions, our trials become all pain and there is no attitude of joy. But when we see what God has promised, it brings something into our hearts that is beyond explanation. God always promises to those who really love Him and follow His will that the painful experience will be for our good (Rom. 8:28). Why do we loose sight of that so easily? When a child passes from this life, we focus on the death rather than see the whole. We don't see a child that is safe, with God and Christ and never to be tempted and fall under sins dominion eternally. We count it as all pain and find little help from God.
When Christ was in Gethsemane, below all the pain and agony, there was this deep desire to do the Holy Father's will. He found joy in pleasing His Holy Father and we can see that in all He takes on and this is what He has His eyes on, even in the garden. When Paul was hurting, asking God to remove the thorn (II Cor. 12), he didn't find the agony the joy but down below wanting to be free from the enduring pain was a deeper sense of love and desire to be a faithful servant of God. He saw God's grace and found himself dependant more than ever on God's grace. It created the sense him counting it all joy because he saw his Holy Father's greatness and it brought Paul contentment.
When we go through difficulties, what we see and focus on will determine how we live through it. If we can get the whole picture, trusting our Holy Father, we will consider it all joy. If we don't, it will take us down and we will consider it all miserable and our lives will reflect that. The agony is not the joy. The knowing what the Father will do with the agony for my better creates an attitude of joy. Jesus saw the joy set before Him so He could endure (Heb. 12:2). What about us?
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