Grayson Pope

Change Me, Not My Circumstances

This is the hardest thing to do in the Christian life:

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4 ESV).

It’s simple to understand, but seems impossible to do. How do you find joy in the midst of a battle with cancer? How do you rejoice when you can’t find a job? How do you find joy when you want nothing more than your circumstances to change?

What does God want for you?

One of the most common mistakes we make when reading the Bible is thinking it’s all about us. While there are certainly applications for our life, the Bible is not a book about us – it’s about God. So when it comes to how to find joy in our suffering, we have to ask what God is up to by allowing it in the first place. And when we bring that question to the Bible, the answer is that God wants us to be made holy.

1 Peter 1:14-16 puts it this way: “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Christians, then, are to constantly shed their old sinful desires and habits in favor of activities which increase their holiness. None of this is possible aside from the work of Christ, of course. His righteousness clothes us so we can come gleaming before the Father in all the splendor of the Son (Isaiah 61:10). In verse 16, God directly commands His followers to be holy.

If God is primarily interested in your holiness, then it makes a great deal of sense why he would allow you to enter into seasons of suffering. These seasons are meant to produce and refine your character. The biblical imagery often used for this process is of smelting, where a blacksmith heats up silver to the point where all the impurities float to the top and he skims them off. He does that over and over again until all the impurities have been removed. This is the refining process.

Does God want me to be happy or to be holy?

But you might be wondering where your happiness fits into all of this. Doesn’t God want me to be happy? Well, yes. He wants you to be happy, but he also wants you to be holy. And His primary interest is your holiness. God’s goal for you after coming to faith in Christ is for you to become mature in Christ, or to be made holy.

Happiness is simply an emotion based on our circumstances. Joy is something much more profound. It’s a choice. Joy is a disposition to be happy regardless of your circumstances. And joy is what God is calling us to: “Count it all joy…when you meet trials of various kinds.”

If you make happiness your life’s goal, you’re guaranteed to fail because your circumstances will change. Your beauty will fade. Your job will change. Joy, on the other hand, can’t be taken. If your joy flows out of your relationship with Jesus then no one can touch it. And that joy can even change how you experience suffering.

You have to want Jesus

To find joy in the midst of suffering, you have to really want Jesus. Like really want him. Like Paul, you have to be able to say, “…I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8 ESV).

To find joy when you’re suffering, you have to care more about Jesus than anything else. That seems simple enough until you ask yourself if you really want Jesus more than anything.

Do you really want Jesus even if he doesn’t get you that promotion? Even if you don’t get better? Do you really want Jesus even if your marriage never gets better or your child never comes back?

Change me, not my circumstances

Far too often we come to Jesus asking him to change our circumstances. We just want out of the suffering, out of the grief, out of the trial. But if we’re thinking like God, we should be praying something different. We should be praying, “Change me, not my circumstances.”

If you’re after the same thing in your life as God, then you’ll rejoice in times of suffering when they come. That doesn’t mean you can’t collapse over being betrayed, or weep over losing your friend. It just means that through it all you count the time of character formation as joy. It means you beg God for the wisdom to see how He wants to refine you through this trial.

If you ask God for this kind of wisdom, He will give it to you (James 1:5). It won’t happen overnight, and it won’t be easy. There will still be incredible pain. But if you truly want Jesus and you make the pursuit of holiness your goal, you’ll be able to count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds.

Daily Prayer: June 4, 2017

Reading: Proverbs 7-9; Psalm 150

Father, let everything that has breath praise you! Let every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth praise you in your sanctuary. Let every musician make a beautiful melody lifting up your greatness. There is wisdom in knowing your greatness and giving you praise. Wisdom is not hidden from us, for you have revealed it through your Word and your world. It is worth more than any treasure in this world. Fear of you is hatred of evil, pride, and arrogance. This fear leads to wisdom, which you make available to anyone who seeks it diligently. Wisdom has existed since before the world was created, and it is woven into the fabric of creation. Wisdom is the way to life, and to forsake it is to embrace destruction. Lord, let me receive instruction humbly and learn from the wise and righteous. But let me carefully discern between wisdom and folly. Both offer rewards, but folly offers hers in exchange for nothing. This is a sure sign of poor advice that can’t be trusted, for everything costs something. Wisdom costs learning and training in the way of righteousness. Folly claims to cost nothing, but ends up costing your life.

Daily Prayer: June 3, 2017

Reading: Proverbs 4-6; Psalm 149

Father, may your people sing to you a new song! May their praise and worship lead them to make new and beautiful art. Lord, you take pleasure in your people – you actually like them. You love them, but you also accept them. It is the humble you adorn with salvation, those lowly enough in Spirit to see they need you. Make me a man of wisdom so that I can pass down sound instruction to my children. Give me wisdom, give me insight, and show me the path of life. I want to be able to tell my children to remember my words and instructions to find the path to life. I want them to see that righteousness leads them down the path that gets brighter and brighter. Father, guard my eyes and my heart from wandering from my wife. Let me never be enticed by a woman with evil intentions. Thank you, Lord, for keeping me faithful to her thus far. Let me never forget that nothing is hidden from you, Lord. You see all and ponder all that I do, think, and feel. Help me see your commandments and rules as the path to life.

Daily Prayer: June 2, 2017

Reading: Proverbs 1-3; Psalm 148

Father, all of creation exists because you commanded it with a word. Therefore, the stars, trees, oceans, creatures, and people should all praise you with all their energy. You alone are worthy of praise, God. You raised up a horn in Jesus who brought us victory over death. O death, where is your sting! Christ has taken away the power of sin by conquering death, ushering his people to victory. Lord, make me wise so that I can increase in knowledge and understanding. Show me what it means to fear you that I might be wise beyond my years. Let me not take counsel with those who would entice me into sin. Those who try to get rich unjustly end up robbing themselves of life. Open my eyes to the wisdom that’s available all around me. Lord, I want your wisdom more than money, more than treasure. I know you will give it to me if I set my heart on finding it. I don’t want to follow my heart or look inside myself for truth because I am not able to understand everything like you are. My heart is clouded by sin, but yours is pure and incorruptible. Let not my wisdom stay simple knowledge, but let it flourish by changing how I live.

Daily Prayer: June 1, 2017

Reading: Psalm 1-2; 147

Father, you are worthy of every song of praise and every voice that lifts you up. You gather together the outcasts and you heal the broken-hearted. You are almighty and all-knowing. We cannot comprehend your power and understanding. All the earth’s activities are under your authority. Yet you do not take delight in animals or trees, but in those who fear you and put their hope in your love. You have revealed yourself and your gospel to me, but you haven’t done the same with so many others. I praise you for setting your sights on me. Thank you, Lord! I am lost and hopeless without you. I will delight in your law and I will meditate on it night and day. He who is firmly planted in your Word will yield fruit. His life will bare testimony that his hope and trust are in you. May it be so with me. Keep me from the sinful desire to make myself God and to determine right and wrong for myself. O Lord, you have given the nations to Jesus as his heritage. I long for the day when the ends of the earth hear of the splendor of your majesty and the depth of your love, and I mourn for those who ever hear of it or who reject it.