Not every day is a good day for you circumstantially. Nor is every day a bad day for you. Most of you reading this have lived long enough to discern that there are seasons in this life – an ebb and flow that we seem to experience. Recently I have connected with people who are experiencing the following:
Deep grief over the death of a son. A diagnosis of terminal disease coupled with a rather cold communication of impending death from an impersonable physician. One who has become deeply discouraged about her faith and the reliability of God and His people. The loss of a business which was thriving a year ago. An abandoned spouse who has watched her cheating husband remarry while she had been praying for their marital restoration. A humble man who raised his daughter properly, only to receive the news that she is now a pregnant teenager with no husband. A senior citizen who buried his wife and now wrestles with aject loneliness. A zealous Christian who was flatly denied when seeking a ministry opportunity. A man who was delivered from an addiction for years but has relapsed and is suffering shame for his failure.
You can add in your story here if it fits the trajectory of what I’m writing. For those reading who are followers of Christ, I submit the following for your consideration: Faith is easy until you have to do it.
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire -may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 1:6-7
Peter had written five opening verses about our unspeakably good salvation through Jesus Christ in chapter one of his first letter. Everything turns on a dramatic dime when we get to verse six. He introduces the idea of challenges, suffering and trials in life. We can nod our heads to the reality of these things but look what Peter then writes – he tells us that these unpleasant things are necessary in our lives. Not accidents but necessities – you and I experience purposeful pain. When you trace this line of thinking theologically you can only conclude one thing for certain: the God who has the power to stop our troubles completely has chosen not to do so because we need them in order to become who He has made us to be. That sound you hear is a quarter million followers of Reverend RelaxAndSmile gasping in disbelief.
You and I need some trouble. We will never know if we have any faith (much less saving, enduring faith) if we are not placed in the crucible of trials. Gold is purified through heat which refines it. The impurities rise to the top of the gold and that dross/slag is removed. The gold gains value through the process of heated removal. The same process is employed to purify your heart and mine; fiery circumstances are turned up in our lives and all of those components of our hearts, minds and souls are put to the flame of providence and circumstance. Our impurities are exposed and able to be removed through ongoing cycles of testings, awareness, confession, repentance and renewal. God has destined his children to be golden. That is the bottom line. Dross/slag in our lives will not serve to glorify God in the end so He begins to purge us of it while we are still here. Amazingly, we typically loathe the process but it is for our own eternal benefit that it occurs. Our love and understanding of God deepens via the crucible. We are imparted God’s strength and wisdom in our afflciitons. We are transformed into the likeness of Christ who, Himself, was not even kept from suffering by the Father. Suffering is a part of our life-script and God designs it to develop us, not destroy us. God is not cruel in allowing this to find us. God is thorough and will touch the deepest part of our being through means which we would never choose but never let it be thought that He is cruel.
Trouble is never fun. Trials are not designed to be pleasant in and of themselves. Challenges stretch us from what we believe about ourselves into what God has decreed for us. None of this is easy but Peter says it is necessary. Those hands of his which held the quill to write the verses above were eventually nailed to a cross as Peter followed in the steps of Jesus. Peter knew all about suffering was not some polished theolog sitting in a study as he theorized about life’s pain. Peter died for the truths he believed. He was not writing poetry. Peter was writing prophecy.
Same truth in I Thessalonians 3:
2 (we) … sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:
3 That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
Same as Romans 5 … Paul doesn’t stop with the comfort of verses 1-2, he drops the bombshell of v3 as well (but then goes on to explain why)
Necessary … appointed … yes, God really is in control!
But – as has been said before – “Faith is always, and can only ever be, tried and exercised in the dark).