You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
3 And [de] not [ou] only [monon] so, but [alla] we glory [kauchaomai] in [en] tribulations [thlipsis]
also [kai]: knowing [eido] that [hoti] tribulation [thlipsis] worketh [katergazomai]
patience [hupomone]; KJV-Interlinear
3 Not only
that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces
endurance, ESV
If you allow circumstances of life to control your mood, then you are a slave to the circumstances of life. And you should know full well that life is full of changing circumstances.
Who lives on rose petals all of their life?
No one.
No matter who or what you are, life is going to be full of trials, troubles, and tribulations. That means problems and no smooth road ahead.
This is the devils world. He stole it from Adam by tricking Eve. And, the Lord had to purchase it back through His work on the Cross, which was a strategic victory, but will not be a tactical victory until the Second Advent, when Jesus Christ returns and takes back possession of the world to set up His Kingdom.
But that will last only 1000 years, and even then, while Jesus is right here on the earth, people will still eventually reject Him as Lord.
It will not be until the end of the Millennium and the start of the new universe and eternity, that we will finally receive back, that which God gave us in the first place.
But until then, we have stress and trouble and burdens and more, because of our failures, and because it is the devils world, for the time being, anyway.
So, what joy do we have now?
Well, we have Christ. We have salvation. We have Bible doctrine. We have the knowledge and confidence that it will all turn out for the better, no matter what difficulties we encounter in this life.
So we set aside, our focus on the problems and we wait. We wait patiently.
Life has a funny way of teaching. And unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, we have troubles to help us learn.
Trouble teaches us patience, tolerance, and most of all, appreciation that what is to come, will be well worth it all, and more.
