Why on earth would anyone be happy about being in trouble? Why would you take satisfaction, even pride, in severe affliction? You read people in the Bible who talk this way a lot, but does it make any sense to you? Wouldn’t you be just as happy to be out of trouble?

Now every Christian has heard all about being justified by faith, about peace with God, and that faith gives us access to the grace of God which is our salvation. You may even have heard a lot about enduring tribulation, why bad things happen to good people, suffering with Christ.

But the odds are, you still don’t feel you understand it very well. In Romans 5, Paul says two very important things here that are closely related and not well-understood. He said we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and we glory in tribulations also.

What on earth did he mean? How can we hope for the glory of God? And why should we glory in tribulations?