And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

--Parallel verses:
‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

My middle son and I have begun working out together. I had taken a break from workouts for a while and, getting back into it, my muscles have atrophied a little bit. So I have to use caution to ease into it. But after a while, I will try to get 8-12 reps and 3 sets per exercise. My middle school son has a different area of focus: he needs muscle endurance, he is targeting 12-15 reps per exercise. He beats me at burpees and running on the treadmill and I can do more pushups (for now).

As I think about building muscle, lifting weights is designed to create micro-tears in the muscle that must be rebuilt. As these tears are repaired, they are built back stronger. So there is muscular pain before the muscle gain.

It is a great parallel to the spiritual life and this concept of having joy in trials. It is not that Christians are called to be masochists, and enjoy pain in and of itself. They are not to seek out pain. Instead, there is incredible joy in knowing that the hard times we do go through will result in stronger spiritual muscles, or perseverance in our faith.

Drawing closer and closer to God through trials is a great reward that requires some pain along the way. Imagine if someone told you that you inherited a 100 acre field and rumor has it that there is a chest that is buried in the field, with a great treasure in it. If you wanted to find the treasure, it would likely require perseverance and endurance to dig all around.

Spiritually, God has chosen to allow us to persevere through trials, in order to build our faith and rely on him for greater and greater things. This spiritual treasure of closeness to God is found by trusting him in all of life’s ups and downs — and it is built fiercely fast in trials.

Plus, our trials allow us to comfort others, and pray for them. We play a key role in the body of Christ, serving to encourage those in trials when we ourselves have gone through similar trials. And answered prayers and victory in trials allows us to have a rock solid hope is Jesus! This hope will stand up to any test. No wind or wave will destroy it.

Lord, thank you for the increased hope you give me as I persevere through trials. This hope includes what I have learned in my trial experiences, to comfort others. I can choose to take joy in the trials of the day, because through them, you make a way for increased closeness to you, Lord Jesus!