1 Peter 1:6-12

⁶ So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. ⁷ These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.⁸ You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. ⁹ The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.¹⁰ This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. ¹¹ They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.¹² They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.

• Trials are Transforming.

There is a story told about two brothers who were trying to cash in on a bounty of $5,000 for capturing wolves alive. Day and night they scoured the mountains looking for their valuable prey. Exhausted one night after they had fallen asleep one  of the brothers woke up to find that they were surrounded by about fifty wolves growling with their teeth bared. He nudged his brother and said, “Wake up, we’re rich!” Some of you right now are facing a pack of problems, and the wolves of worry are nipping at your heels but you don’t feel very rich. But contrary to what one might expected, as I look back on my experiences, especially the painful and problematic ones I have actually found them to be the most profitable. The greatest times of growth have come not through the good times but through the groaning times. Everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has actually come through hardship not happiness. There is a purpose behind the problems; trials can fortify your faith. Do you believe that God’s plan is perfect even in the problems, that He has a plan to use your pain for His purposes? I love what Joseph said to his brothers who had wronged him and said in Genesis 50:20: “What you intended as harm God intended for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” Only God can use your pain for gain. It’s in the trials that the power and the presence of God is often seen, it was in the midst of a fiery trial when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were thrown into the furnace heated seven times hotter than normal that they experienced the Son of God. Because Jesus was in the fire with them, they were protected. Peter also knew what it was to face the storm, and as long as he looked to the Lord he walked on the waves, but when he focused on the storm and not on the Savior he sank. Peter continued to face trials throughout his life. He discovered that what may seem bad can actually be a blessing, that God can use trials to bring benefits into our lives. And so he shares with a suffering church the truth that when we responded to rightly, our trials can be transforming.

• Trials can strengthen our faith in the Lord.  

Look at verse 7. The word “genuine” means that which is proven. Just as gold is purified through fire, so too our faith is proven through pain. God says this in Isaiah 48:10 “I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering” Job who went through terrible trials knew that his suffering would serve to strengthen him when he cried out in Job 23:10: “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” Can a faith that is not tested really be trusted?  In Bible times when a craftsman would want to make something of fine gold, he would purify it using a furnace of intense heat, so that all the impurities would be burned out. The goldsmith would know the work was done when he could see the reflection of his own face in the liquefied gold. Sometimes God turns up the heat in our lives in order to work out the impurities. Do you realize that Pain can Purify and Trials can temper us? If everything went well how would you ever know if your faith was real?” You know your faith is the real when you’re going through the garbage and you’re still giving God the glory.