Shedding light on the confusion of Joy

Joy is one biblical concept I have had some confusion over:

Joy and happiness while different words in the Greek (the language the NT was written in) they mean close to the same thing. As far as I can tell joy is like happiness on steroids and that seems to be the difference.

We have all heard that joy is not dependent on our circumstances but lets be honest, how many of us are going to feel joy when our house burns down, we loose our job, or a loved one is suffering because of cancer. Yet the Bible says in James 1. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

At first this verse only seems to add confusion in understanding joy ( and it also makes you want to wag your finger in James face and say, "really James, come on, really?) but recently I learned something by rereading this verse carefully.

James doesn’t say you should feel joy when you face trials. Most of us can’t help but feeling the way we do. We can't really stop emotions from occurring. However, we can respond to our emotions properly.  You see we want to sense joy and feel its value but it doesn’t always work that way. James says count it pure joy. Joy is first for God to see. (As Galatians in the Bible says, joy is a fruit of the Spirit).We then have to accept God’s valuation of it. In doing so we can count any trial as joy. However, if we try to come to a valuation of trials by our feelings we will get nothing and we remain in darkness. True joy is often a matter of faith.  Listen to the rest of the verse in James. because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

God knows that every trial is in his control and even if the trial is horrible he can use it to bring about good – your perfection and maturity among other things. If you are a disciple of Christ there is great joy in resembling Christ more and that is what God produces through our trials. We may not feel joy in the midst of trials but the end result of trials in our life glorifies God as we come out better reflecting His image. Our joy is tied to our hope in Christ and as our hope in Christ is more fully recognized so to is our joy expressed and felt. This is the reason the mature person in Christ is able to outwardly be joyous in hard circumstances, because they know the results already without even knowing how the circumstance will turn out.