Scripture: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." (James 1:2)
Part One: The Stone That Learned to Dance
Let me tell you about a stone I once saw in the Crocodile River, just outside Pretoria, near the R511. I was standing there last December, watching the water rush over ancient rocks. Most stones downstream were smooth polished by decades of persistent flow. But one stone caught my eye. It was jagged, fierce, unyielding. The water crashed against it with foam and fury, but the stone refused to change.
That stone, my friends, is the picture of a man or woman who resists the shaping hand of God.
You see, resilience is not the stubborn refusal to be changed. No. That is not strength that is rigor mortis of the soul. True resilience is the holy art of bending without breaking, knowing that the Master Potter holds the clay. The Scripture declares unequivocally: "Consider it pure joy... whenever you face trials of many kinds." Not if you face them. Whenever.
Let us define our terms clearly. Resilience comes from the Latin resilire—to leap back. It is not the absence of pressure but the presence of recovery. The river reed bends to the storm and stands to see the sunrise. The stiff oak loses its branches. Which one are you?
Part Two: A Personal Reckoning
I write this from Akasia, Zone 4, where the potholes have potholes and the load-shedding schedule has become a second religion. Last month, I lost three days of work because Eskom decided that Stage 6 was merely a suggestion. My laptop died mid-sermon. My phone battery followed shortly after, like a faithful dog jumping off a cliff after its master.
And I stood there in the dark literally and metaphorically and heard the whisper: Consider it joy.
I wanted to throw my dead phone at the wall. But the wall was also dark, so what would be the point?
Here is the truth that South Africans know better than any prosperity preacher in Sandton: The river does not ask the stone for permission to flow. Trials come. They come like the July 2021 unrest that tore through KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. They come like the floods of Durban that washed away entire families. They come like the unemployment statistics that sit at 32.9%—a number that represents real people, real hunger, real sleepless nights in Soweto, Mamelodi, Tembisa.
And yet.
And yet. The church in South Africa is not dead. We are bent, yes. But we are not broken.
Part Three: The Logic of Joyful Suffering (An Apologetic)
A common objection arises: "How can a good God command joy in suffering? That is not resilience—that is psychological denial. That is toxic positivity dressed in religious clothing."
Let me answer with both logic and Scripture.
The Argument Formulated Thus:
· Major Premise: God is simultaneously sovereign (all-powerful) and good (all-loving). Scripture affirms both without contradiction (Romans 8:28; Genesis 50:20).
· Minor Premise: Every trial you face is either directly sent or sovereignly permitted by this God for a purpose you may not immediately perceive.
· Conclusion: Therefore, the trial contains within it the seed of divine intention for your ultimate good and God's ultimate glory.
The Objection Anticipated: "But suffering feels meaningless. How can joy be commanded?"
The Response: You confuse happiness with joy. Happiness (from hap—luck or chance) depends on circumstances. Joy (from the Greek chara, rooted in charis—grace) depends on God's character, not your condition. The command to "consider" joy is not a command to feel happy. It is an act of the will, a courtroom verdict you pronounce over reality: "This trial is not random. It is redemptive."
Imagine, if you will, a woman in labor. The pain is real. The sweat is real. The urge to quit is real. But between contractions, she smiles—not because the pain is pleasant, but because the purpose is precious. She considers it joy because she knows what the pain is producing.
South Africa knows labor pains. We are a nation in transition, groaning for redemption. But the morning is coming.
Part Four: The Prosperity Gospel Heresy Exposed
We must sound the alarm, and I will not apologize for the volume.
There is a false gospel spreading across this continent like wildfire—the prosperity gospel. It says: "If you have enough faith, you will not suffer. Poverty is a curse. Sickness is sin. Jesus wants you rich, healthy, and comfortable."
This is not Christianity. This is idolatry dressed in a three-piece suit.
The argument can be refuted with a single verse: "Consider it pure joy... whenever you face trials of many kinds." Not if you face them. Whenever.
Where was the prosperity gospel at the crucifixion? Where was health and wealth when Paul wrote from a Roman prison? Where was comfort when John the Baptist lost his head? Where was ease when Christ Himself—the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity—sweat blood in Gethsemane and cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
The prosperity gospel is not good news. It is a lie that has left countless believers shattered when the trial came and their "faith" failed. And it failed because it was never faith in God—it was faith in a formula. It was magic, not majesty. Transaction, not transformation.
True resilience says: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). Not if He heals me. Not if He prospers me. Though He slay me.
That is the faith of our fathers. That is the faith that sustained our grandmothers in the townships, who prayed through tears and cooked with nothing and sang through the darkness. They were not wealthy. They were not healthy by Western standards. But they were resilient. And their resilience was not in their resistance—it was in their reliance.
Part Five: The War-Time Mentality
Picture a soldier in the trenches. Does he complain about the mud? Does he demand a feather pillow? No. He knows he is at war.
Brothers and sisters, you are at war.
The enemy is real. His name is Satan, the Accuser, the Father of Lies. He does not fight fair. He attacks your mind first because if he controls your thoughts, he controls your life. "Did God really say?" he whispers. "If God loved you, why is this happening?" "You must not have enough faith."
The battle is the Lord's, but the trenches are yours.
Let me give you a modern South African example. You wake up to news of another taxi strike. Your route to work is blocked by burning tyres. Your boss is calling. Your children need school fees. Your car needs petrol. And the ANC is fighting amongst itself again, and the DA is pointing fingers, and the EFF is shouting, and everyone is promising everything and delivering nothing.
And in that moment, the enemy whispers: See? God has abandoned you.
No. The enemy is a liar. The trial is not evidence of God's absence it is the classroom of God's presence. The fire is not destruction—it is purification. The river is not drowning—it is shaping.
The stone in the river is not worn down by the water's power, but by its constant, gentle flow. Your trials are not meant to destroy you, but to shape you into a vessel of glory.
Part Six: The Call to Action (Because Comfort Without Conviction Is Poison)
So what do you do? Let me give you three practical laws, in the Harold Mawela tradition:
First Law of Resilient Faith: What you rehearse determines what you rehearse. That is not a typo. The word is the same because the principle is the same. What you say to yourself repeatedly that becomes your reality. Stop rehearsing your problems. Start rehearsing God's promises. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). Say it until you believe it. Believe it until you live it.
Second Law of Resilient Faith: You will never possess what you are unwilling to pursue. Many of you are praying for resilience but running from pressure. You want the muscle without the weight. You want the testimony without the test. It does not work that way. Pursue the presence of God in the trial, not escape from the trial. The fire-cooked stone is the one that becomes a cornerstone.
Third Law of Resilient Faith: Your destiny is decoded in your daily disciplines. Do not pray for a lighter load—pray for a stronger back. And then build that back. Daily Scripture. Daily prayer. Daily worship even when you don't feel it. Daily forgiveness. Daily generosity. These are not rituals they are resistance training for the soul.
Part Seven: The Hope That Holds
Let me end where I began at the river.
The stone does not know what it is becoming. It feels only the pressure, the friction, the relentless flow. But the Master Builder sees the finished foundation. The potter sees the vessel. The Gardener sees the fruit.
Jesus Christ is our ultimate example of resilience. He bent under the weight of the cross—but He did not break. He cried in Gethsemane—but He did not retreat. He died on Golgotha—but He did not stay dead.
And because He lives, you can live. Because He bent, you will not break. Because He rose, you will rise.
God is not absent in your trial. He is not silent. He is not surprised. He is not overwhelmed. He is the River—constant, faithful, shaping you into something beautiful. The same God who led Moses through the Red Sea leads you through load-shedding. The same God who fed Elijah by ravens feeds you through the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Democratic Alliance and the African National Congress and whoever else is in power this week. Politics change. Economies collapse. Rivers flow.
But the Lord reigns. Hallelujah. The Lord reigns.
Prayer for the Resilient
Lord Jesus Christ, Master Potter and Gentle River, I come to You bent but not broken. I have felt the weight of the water. I have tasted the salt of tears. I have stood in the dark during load-shedding and wanted to scream. But You have not left me. You were there in the silence. You were there in the pressure. You were there in the pain. Make me like the river reed—flexible enough to survive the storm, rooted enough to see the sunrise. I do not pray for a lighter load. I pray for a stronger back, fortified by Your promise that You will never let the current sweep me away. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Resurrection and the Life. Amen.
Go, and be resilient. The river is shaping you for glory.
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