“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.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)
I’ve never seen gold put through a fiery furnace, but I’ve watched a blacksmith at work. He inserts a long iron rod into the flames of a wood-burning stove, usually for just a few minutes. He pulls the rod out and with its end glowing red, he puts it on the anvil. He pounds it, shapes it, sometimes twists and curls it. He makes something functional and beautiful. The time in the fire is brief, the pounding is hard—sometimes even causing the blacksmith to return it to the fire if it’s not malleable enough—but the end result is durable and valuable.
Peter encourages his readers by reminding them that their trials, like the iron rod in the flame, are for “a little while”, but the result is something durable, beautiful, and even useful for the Kingdom of God. Trials never feel like “a little while.” Waiting for the test results of a biopsy, searching for a job during months of unemployment, or working through a complicated relationship—none of it feels like “a little while,” except in light of eternity.
But what is this “proof” of the genuineness of our faith? That despite the trial, in fact, through the trial– we love God anyway. Most of the time, we think transactionally: We love and obey Jesus, and then, He makes sure that things go our way. Or, to go a step further, we think, “Okay, God, we’ll go through this trial, but there has to be purpose—some better result so that we know our suffering was not in vain.”
But, God doesn’t want a transaction; He wants our hearts. In the midst of the fiery trial, He asks, “Do you still love Me, for Who I am—not only for what I can do for you?”
We don’t enjoy trials, but through them our joy is Jesus Himself. When we can endure suffering without knowing the outcome or purpose, we can be confident in knowing that the trial is temporary, but our love relationship with Jesus will go on to eternity.
For reflection:
- What can you do to help find your joy in Jesus even in the midst of trials?
- Looking back, as you examine times in your past that you’ve endured trials, can you see how has God grown you through them?
by Laure Herlinger
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