"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:2
One thing is for sure - even as we trust the Lord, we will face trials in our lives.
So, is it possible to experience joy even in the midst of our trials?
Yes.
Consider this - Jesus, while on earth, endured many, many trials. And also understand that Jesus was fully man and fully God. That's a difficult concept for us to grasp.
At the Garden of Gethsemane, when He was praying, Jesus was so full of stress and anxiety that Luke said He sweated drops of blood. He understood the horrors of the cross. The torture of the cross. The agony of the prolonged suffering He would endure.
And it says Jesus despised the shame of the cross. Not the cross itself. He despised what He went through, the pain that He went through. He despised the shame He had to deal with of taking all of our sins upon Himself and that rottenness and all of that guilt.
Yet, Jesus Christ had joy even in the reality of facing the horrors of the cross. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 12:2, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.
Why?
Because He was thinking of the end result. He was seeking to accomplish the purpose for which His heavenly Father had sent Him - to be the Savior of the world, to pay the penalty for our sins. And that's why when He came to the end of that ordeal on the cross, He shouted out in triumph, "It is finished!" Not in defeat, but in victory, because He had perfectly fulfilled what His Father had sent Him to do.
And so in the midst of it all, Christ understood the joy of the end result of what the Father was leading Him to do.
So, let's be sure to remember the end game. Then, we can miraculously experience joy - even in our deepest trials - when it doesn't make any human sense at all.
