Katie Ledecky and James 1:2

 What could James have been talking about when he wrote, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…” (James 1:2). Was James serious? Did he mean for us to actually rejoice when we experience trials? Our natural bent is to run from trials or get through them as quickly as possible. Certainly, we don’t feel like rejoicing. When we experience a financial setback, physical illness, or emotional trauma, we pray that God will take away the problem and get us out of the trial ASAP. We certainly see no reason to “count it all joy.”

Last night at the Paris Olympics Katie Ledecky won the 1500-meter freestyle in dominating fashion. The second-place finisher was over ten seconds behind her. She set a new Olympic record (beating her own Olympic record) with a time of 15:30.02. She now has the 20 fastest times in the history of the women’s 1500-meter freestyle race. She is unbeaten in the 1500-meter and 800-meter at the World Championships and Olympics. She has won 13 Olympic medals, making her the most decorated US female Olympic athlete ever. She will be favored to win another gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle on Saturday to add to her hardware. Her accomplishments are without comparison.

In light of everything Katie has accomplished, you might think she is obsessed with winning. If you’re thinking that, you’re actually wrong. Katie’s obsessed with training. Jeff Haden pointed this out in a recent article for INC.com. He wrote, “Ledecky loves the process. ‘I'm someone who loves training,’ she says, ‘and I always have.’” He notes that her passion for training is the secret of her success. She finds joy in “making breakthroughs in training people don't see.” Ledecky was once described as “remarkably unremarkable" after a U.S. Olympic Training Center fitness assessment. She has no physical anomalies giving her an unnatural advantage. Instead, as Haden writes, “She loves the work.” Katie leans into and embraces the laborious and difficult process of training. She must have figured out long ago that the results will come naturally if you embrace the difficulties of the process. And she has experienced amazing results.

James may be teaching us something similar. Trials shape us spiritually. We learn more about God and experience His sovereign hand in the midst of trials. Our faith gets stretched in those times. We discover afresh how sufficient He is to sustain us and meet our needs. Trials develop staying power within us as believers to finish our race of faith strong.

But let’s be honest. We don’t like trials. When trials come, we quickly ask the Lord to make them go away. We don’t lean into the trial and allow God to grow us spiritually through them. How often do you face a trial and ask a brother or sister to pray for you so that you can grow in every way God wants you to grow through the trial? I knew a dear man, who served as an elder of a church I attended, who did just that. He developed cancer and his prayer request was that he would learn everything God wanted him to learn through this. That’s a rare exception. Most of us just ask God to take the trial away. Through his battle, however, he experienced and revealed the peace of God that truly surpasses all understanding. He leaned into the trial and experienced God in deeper ways.

James is not telling you to jump up and down in glee because you lost your job or found out you have cancer. But I do believe he is telling you to lean into the trial and grow through it. Learn to embrace the spiritual training of trials that strengthen your faith. Embrace the process of spiritual growth even when it’s difficult. God will take care of the results. We just need to embrace the process.

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