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 can deepen our love for the Lord. 

Verse 8 says, “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.” The word for love here is agapeo, which refers to an unconditional, not an emotional love. Trials have a way of getting us to what really matters. We might skate along on the superficial and emotional level for a while but when problems come, we’re forced to either say “later” to the Lord or to love Him at a much deeper level.

• Trials can grow our joy in Jesus. 

You can have joy in the midst of the junk. In the bible sadness and gladness often coexist side by side, its one of the greatest paradoxes of Christianity. In Acts 5:41 we find Peter and John “rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.”

• Trials help us put our hope in the Lord. 

Verse 9 says, “The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.” Our hope is in what is ahead, our home in heaven, its not in our earthly homes or our health. Sometimes it’s only when suffering has strips us of everything but the Savior that we realize how rich we are. What if we were to stop focusing on the garbage and start focusing on the glory? Are you going to focus on the hurts or the hope? For believers all of our bad days on earth will be better than one day in Hell. The mark of maturity isn’t so much what you know but what happens to your worship in the winter, when the winds of worry blow and things go from bad to worse. Are you going to be a fair weather worshipper or a fearless one? Mature Christians don’t waste there energy moaning and groaning they chose to give God the glory. Praise is not a denial of problems, Peter doesn’t deny or dismiss the problems and the pressures of this life but he says that they don’t have to dominate us. He is telling us to stop giving priority to the problems and to start making praise our priority. Look our problems are for a little while but praise is for eternity. What if instead of getting worked up over worry we start getting worked up over worship? As you go through this season of suffering are you going to chose to seek the Savior and sing or allow your suffering to sour and suffocate you? What are you going to do with your pain? As a pastor people will often come to me and share their pain. Once as I was greet people coming in to church a man place in my hand 5 silver coins. He said I don’t want to hold on to these anymore it’s too much pain I’m giving them to God so that he can use them for his glory. As a young man he had chosen to serve his country and join the military. His parents were so angry at his decision that they disowned him and gave his stuff away which included these 5 silver coins that his grandfather had saved and given to him when he was a boy. Many years later a cousin who had gotten the coins returned them to him, but they only stirred up hurtful memories. So that Sunday morning he let go of them and the painful memories they stirred up. After much prayer I decided to keep the coins and use them to share his story and every time I did give to a ministry the amount those coins would be worth. Over the years I have given those coins away many times over. What once was painful is now productive. I wonder what could God do with your hurts if you placed them into His hands? What if today you gave your hurts to the Healer.