Barnes’ New Testament Notes told us, “Regard it as a thing to rejoice in; a matter which should afford you happiness. You are not to consider it as a punishment, a curse, or a calamity, but as a fit subject of felicitation.”. The reason we should be able to rejoice in our hard times, trials, is because we, “…are not to consider it as a punishment, a curse, or a calamity…”.