Triumph Over Trials

I Peter 1:5-9: (The believers are those) "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 . . . .for now a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of you souls."



The purpose of this first letter written by Peter was to encourage the Church that was struggling through the pain of persecution. Later in the passage, Paul advises the Church not to be surprised at the painful trials that they are experiencing but rejoice that they "participate in the sufferings of Christ" (4:12-13). He tells them that their sufferings are the evidential fruit that the glory of the Holy Spoirit rests upon them.



To begin his letter, Paul encourages his readers that God's power shields their faith from any outside entity that would attempt to separate the believer from the Lord. No person or thing can deter the purpose of God to redeem those who are His by the grace of Christ. Paul reemphasizes this thought in Romans 8:37-39 when he writes, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Here Paul is proclaiming that neither physical realities, spiritual forces, time, spacial/distance restraints, nor created beings . . . in effect anything . . . will separate the redeemed from the Sovereign Lord. And even though the forces of darkness would desire to destroy those who have surrendered themselves to the Lordship of Christ, God will gather His elect from the depths of oppression and dispair and place them into His heavenly abode for all eternity.



Still, with the comfort that comes with this Divine assurance, we who are true followers of Christ must traverse this temporal, earthly realm of pain, alienation, and persecution. God tells us in this passage that our trials help to prove the genuineness of our faith. We all know that talk is cheap. We are all able to say the "righteous" things when our lives are filled with blessing and prosperity; it is in the dark days of tribulation and temptation when our true faith is proved genuine. James tells us that trials bring a testing of our faith, which in turn developes perseverance and maturity. The Greek word used for "perseverance" is hupomonen which means "tenacity or 'stick-to-it-iveness.'" It is the ability to have the joy and peace of Christ, irrespective of the events that befall our lives, and this faith sustains us thoughout the difficulties in life.



In the passage above, Peter also says that our faith, when unfettered by the trials of life, results in "praise, honor, and glory when Jesus Christ is revealed." For the redeemed, we know that our foundational purpose in life is to glorify God. If our true faithfulness to the Lord is demonstrated in times of adversity, then we are able to celebrate that we are fulfilling our primordial purpose in life.



Peter closes this passage by saying that we are able to have the inexpressible joy of Christ by believing in Him and loving Him though we are not able to see Him. We trust that God is Sovereign and in control and is working out our eternal redemption, even though we are at present struggling through the painful trials of life.