Rejoice in the Lord when you are distressed by various trials.
1 Peter 1:6,7, ‘In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ’;
Peter is encouraging the believers to rejoice greatly in the Lord! When do we rejoice? Not only when the things are running smoothly, not only when we are in our comfort zone but Peter is saying, ‘greatly rejoice in the Lord, when you are distressed by various trials, difficulties and sufferings!’ and in those situations, there should not be any complaining and murmuring or grumbling or questioning God. God wants us to rejoice in the Lord! When we are going through different trials and difficulties in our Christian lives, are we really rejoicing in the Lord? Are we fulfilling our purpose, which God wants to fulfill, when we are going through the trials in our lives?
Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:4 says, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!’
When Paul was saying this, he was not in a comfortable zone, he was in a prison! God wants us to rejoice in Him, without complaining or grumbling whenever we encounter any trials/difficulties/sufferings.
When we go through these trials, our faith is tested.
1 Peter 1:7, ‘so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ’
When we are tested, what is the result? Is it complaining or grumbling in our lives? or is it praise, glory and honor for Jesus Christ – This is the true grace of God! As true children of Jesus Christ, God wants our lives to bring praise, honor and glory to Him! The proof of our faith is more precious than gold.
1 Peter 5:12, ‘Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it’
When we encounter different trials and difficulties, the result should be glorifying to God bringing Praise, honor and glory to Him. This is the true grace of God. We should stand firm in it. We should never fall away from this grace. Our faith is tested during our trials.
Matthew 7:24-27, ‘“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”’
When the floods and winds come in our lives and if our foundation is on the rock, we can stand firm! We can glorify God, through that situation! Whatever comes in our Christian lives, we need to stand firm, for the glory of God.
God will test the faith of the righteous
Psalms 11:5, ‘The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked’,
Matthew 5:20, ‘“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven’.
God wants us to increase in our righteousness in our inner lives. God is looking at our inner lives. God wants to show us our real condition, so He will test us our faith to know if our faith is genuine or not.
Deuteronomy 8:2, ‘You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not’.
The purpose in testing our faith is to know what is in our heart and its true condition. God tests our faith to reveal what is in our heart. The main purpose of our trials is for our purification only. So that, Christ’ character might be formed in us.
James 1:2-4, ‘Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing’.
This is the purpose. We may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Testing of our faith produces endurance.
In old testament we see that Abraham was tested in various ways. When God tested Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham passed that test. We can see here, that God tests us in our family life too. Where are we giving priority in our family life? In relation to our spouse, children, especially when we have unbelievers in our relatives, God will test us. Are we standing firm in the truth?
God also tested Abraham in property division between Abraham and Lot, in dealing the property. Abraham took a wise stand. He also passed this test. In our Christian lives also, when we are dealing with money matters and financial things. God will test us to show us whether we have the love of the money in our lives.
God tests the righteous. God sees our hearts. God wants a defect – free material. The main purpose is our purification. Christ- nature should be formed in our Christian lives, more and more. God’s will for us is our righteousness should grow more and more.
We see Job’s life. He was an upright and blameless man. He was going through severe and difficult trials in his life. It is a great example for us also and we can learn many things from Job’s life! God allowed Satan to test Job. In the midst of all his trials, Job who was an old-covenant man, saying in a new covenant spirit, in
Job 1:22, ‘Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.’
We know Job had lost his children, his properties, in all this, without murmuring, complaining or questioning God, Holy Spirit says, ‘In all this, Job did not sin nor did he blame God’. This is the wonderful life!
V20, ‘Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped’.
In the midst of all his sufferings and trials, Job fell to the ground and worshipped God. His life really challenges us.
Job 23:8-10, ‘“Behold, I go forward but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; 9When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns on the right, I cannot see Him. 10But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.’
‘But he knows where I am going’ – NLT version says like this. Our God knows what we are going through. He is in control. He knows our trials, difficulties that we are going through. ‘When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold’, Job says. He knows where we are going. Our Heavenly Father, knows our situation. We will come out as pure gold.
Job 40:4, ‘“I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand’.
We see Job humbling himself here.
V3,4, ‘Then Job answered the Lord and said, 4“Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth’.
We see Job’s humility here.
Job 42:5,6, ‘I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; 6Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”
Job is repenting in dust and ashes, when he was going through the sufferings and difficulties and trials. For our encouragement, Holy Spirit has written about Job in the new testament in,
James 5:11, ‘We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful’.
Our Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. Our God is a good God. When God allows some situations in our lives, always remember that He is a compassionate God. Our God is a merciful God. He will never allow us to be tested beyond our capacity.
1 Corinthians 10:13, ‘No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it’.
Our God is a faithful God. He is in control of our lives. He is our loving Heavenly Father, who never allows us to be tempted beyond what we are able.
1 Peter 5:10, ‘After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you’.
All these trials are for a little while when we compare to the eternal glory in Christ. In the eternal weight of the glory of God, these trials that we face on earth in our Christian lives, are momentary, for a little while.
2 Corinthians 4:17, 18, ‘For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal’.
1 Peter 1:3-6, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’ 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials’,
We see that we are born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, obtaining an imperishable inheritance, reserved in heaven for us, we are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.In this, we should greatly rejoice! Even though now for a little while, when you have been distressed by various trials. God is encouraging us that God has a purpose in all our trials, for our purification. We have to trust in our God. He will test the righteous.
Psalms 11:4-5, ‘4The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. 5The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
In verse 4 we see The Lord is on the throne and He is watching over us. His eyes are on the righteous and in Verse 5 He tests the righteous. When we are going through the trials , when God test us we should remember that He is still on the throne . When He is testing us, He is holding the thermostat, He has complete control over the temperature. He knows what temperature should be set on each one of us. He will set the temperature and will set the time; accordingly, He will test us because God designed our life. God knows our capacity. God will never allow us to be tested beyond our capacity. We need to remember always that He will always hold the thermostat, He will never give His thermostat to Satan’s hands! God never did and will never do also. He will allow Satan to test us, but the thermostat is in God’s hands only. Our loving Heavenly Father is in full control over us. He is on the throne! When our faith is tested, we need to come out to be pure gold, without any impurities in it.
Ephesians 5:27, ‘that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.’
We need to be a Church, having no spot or wrinkle, but be holy and blameless that the Holy Spirit want to present us as a Church, as an individual. This is the purpose of trials in Christian lives – our purification! God is on the throne. He is in full control. In this, you greatly rejoice, when you are distressed by various trials.
May God bless us!
