The amity of joy and suffering

I’ve been noticing how often we stick phrases like "in spite of" in the middle of talk about joy & suffering. 

"We can have joy in spite of suffering."
"Even though we suffer…"
"Regardless of our suffering…"

It makes them sound inherently opposed to each other; like there's dissonance seeing them in the same sentence unless a few qualifying words are thrown in.

You don’t see much of that in Scripture. Joy and suffering are frequently written as having some kind of purposeful amity with each other.

Both Paul and James tell us to rejoice in suffering — not “in spite of” it — with both going on to describe the fruit it produces.

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope."

- Romans 5:3-4 ESV

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."

- James 1:2-3 ESV

Peter says to take joy whenever we suffer like Christ did, as a way to look forward to when He comes again in all His glory:

"But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed."

- 1 Peter 4:13 ESV

Psalm 119 praises God for suffering’s role in teaching us to live more obediently. 

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
    but now I keep your word
It is good for me that I was afflicted,
    that I might learn your statutes.

- Psalm 119:67, 71 ESV

Hezekiah rejoices in looking back at the anguish he was dragged through, insisting it was for his own benefit:

Behold, it was for my welfare
    that I had great bitterness;
but in love you have delivered my life
    from the pit of destruction.

- Isaiah 38:17 ESV

None of that reads like there’s tension between the two concepts. Suffering isn’t painful randomness God tries to find a way to bless us through, and joy doesn’t need to look over its own shoulder for pain to spoil it. They exist under the same, sovereign rule, taking orders from the same king (even though one of them thinks he’s in service of another).

This is the Gospel’s signature move. God humiliates evil by diverting it toward His own, good plans. He could’ve stopped at just making sure it doesn’t end us, and even that would be more mercy than we’re owed. The fact that he goes further by using it as a reason to be joyful is quite the flipping of the script.

Choosing to disregard that command is on us. It’s on me! I could try to rationalize it through rhetorical gymnastics, but it’d still boil down to one reason: I don’t trust him. I lack the faith to stand on the water. Without it, no poignant verses will make it possible to carry joy. Not when every step yields a jolt of pain, and the encircling murk is too thick to see how long you’ll be walking on this terrain. 

Still, there’s some unexpected reassurance just in the act of feeling that pain. It means at least you still have some memory of what peace feels like, and you still think it’s worth asking for the faith to see it again. That’s gotta mean something. A dull pain is a hopeless one. It’s far more concerning to feel nothing at all. 

I’m jealous of the perspective shown in Psalm 126. The author is stuck between the memory of deliverance and a hope for it to happen again. In the middle is glad suffering. You can feel the eager anticipation for God to work again — to make use of the seeds being “sown in tears.”  

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
    we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
    and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them.” 
The Lord has done great things for us;
    we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
    like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
    shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
    bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
    bringing his sheaves with him.

- Psalm 126 ESV

That’s a breed of joy that can’t be borne out of anything but suffering. We may lack the confidence of the author of that Psalm, but fortunately for us, His plans don’t change based on the strength of our faith in the moment. Praise God for that.