Memory Monday – Week 47

In 1 Peter, trials and suffering are mentioned several times. We know that as Christians we will face trials. It is never a question of if, it’s a question of when. It’s important to remember that every trial we face is a refining process.

Verse 6 tells us to rejoice. This is referring to rejoicing in the power kept by God that verse 5 mentioned. We can find joy in the fact that when we face trials, He is with us.

Verse 7 says that our faith is tested by fire. The reason for this is to display the quality of our faith. It’s very easy to have faith when life is easy, but when we face trials our faith is tested. Trials refine us and mold us to be more like Jesus. 

The only way to refine metal is to keep it in the heat. God does the same with us. When we are in the fire is when God molds us to who He wants us to become. It sometimes feels like it’s all at once and that everything is crashing down around us; our faith, our health, our marriage, our job, etc, but it’s in those dark times that Jesus refines us. As an example, a clay pot sitting on a shelf is still a pot, but once it’s put into a fire, it become porcelain. It doesn’t change on the shelf, but in the fire. We don’t change by walking through life one day at a time with no trials. We change while we are in the trials.

My hope for everyone is that while in a trial they seek the Lord and allow Him to refine you. I think so often trials cause people to run away from the Lord and instead grow bitter, which I believe misses the whole purpose of going through a trial. Instead, seek Him and your faith will be proved genuine and will result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus is revealed.