How To Endure Trials and Hardship
1 Peter 1:3-7 has a lot to say about the purpose of trials in just a few short verses. Often times it does not feel like trials and hardship have any purpose at all except to threaten us and cause grief. Yet, the Lord, has great purposes He wants to achieve during such times. Hardship, grief, and trials can come from many sources and we are no stranger to them. Yet, the Lord reminds us that our hope is not in vain.
In vs. 3 we are told that He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. When Peter says “living hope” it is an actively alive, energizing hope, that is to be a living dynamic principle in the life of the believer. It is a Godly hopefulness and optimism in our lives which is the fruit of being yielded to the Holy Spirit who lives and works powerfully in us. This power is made possible because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Ephesians 1:19-20 makes it clear that the same resurrection power, which raised Jesus from the dead, works powerfully through us who believe so that our faith and life in God is an eternal inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept safely in heaven by God Himself (vs. 4). In the meantime, while here on earth, we are being guarded by God’s power through faith in Him (vs. 5) and are sealed in Him by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). This gives great hope while going through trials because we know how great God is and how great our salvation is to Him. We also know that we have the power of Christ working through us even, and maybe especially, when we are weak and/or under great pressure to endure. This puts a fire to our faith and fans it into flames.
Peter tells us to rejoice while experiencing trials (vs. 6), even though he admits that trials can cause us grief. The rejoicing spoken here is meant to be an exuberant joy fully expressed by us. It may seem strange to rejoice when we are suffering; however, the supernatural reality is that we are not limited by our trials – actually, God wants us to be elevated through them. Also, the joy of the Lord becomes our strength (Nehemiah 8:10), which helps undergird us and lift us up into His presence.
The purpose of the trial, whatever the source, is a test used by God to prove the genuineness of our faith. Taking a test does not sound like fun; however, when we pass a test it means that we have achieved something and have grown in our abilities and knowledge. Therefore, God uses such tests to grow us to have a mature faith that is extraordinarily strong and very real. We have to trust that though we are tested God always wants us to pass the test and to grow. He is for us, not against us (Romans 8:31) and He wants our faith to become even more precious and valuable that gold (vs. 7). When our faith grows it not only honors and gives glory to God but is also used by Him to accomplish great purposes through us in the name and power of Jesus.
1 Peter 1:3-7 (NIV) - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Comments
Post a Comment