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In trials, rejoice!

In trials, rejoice
1 Peter 1:1-12.

Have you ever been in a situation where you've been mistreated or made to feel awkward because you're a Christian? Or you're aware of a worldly pattern in your circle - maybe with work or peers - that makes it hard to live as a Christian. These and similar are examples of trials. The challenge of trials is to lose heart or give in.

So Peter writes in his epistle to encourage persecuted Christians in his day and us today. Peter addresses believers as God's elect exiles (v1), chosen by God but exiles to the world, facing all kinds of trials (v6).

And in the face of trials, what do we do? Rather than lose heart or give in, Peter says Rejoice! Rejoice and be thankful to God because of the kind of new birth - the kind of faith - He gave us.

When you undergo trials, rejoice because:

  • Your faith is anchored in a living hope! (v3-6)
Peter begins by erupting in praise, not because suffering is pleasant, but because our faith rests on something unshakable: a living hope. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has given us a new birth into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, one that is kept in heaven for us and guarded by God’s power (v3-5).

Because this hope is alive and secure, present trials—though painful and real—are put into perspective. They are temporary, lasting only “for a little while” (v6), while our inheritance is eternal. Like an athlete who endures intense training because of the prize ahead, believers can rejoice in trials because suffering does not cancel God’s promise, it confirms it, just like it did for Christ. So we can rejoice.

  • Your faith is authenticated through trials! (v7-9)
Peter explains that trials function like fire refining gold; they test and reveal whether faith is genuine (v7). Yet our faith is far more valuable than gold, because gold perishes while faith that endures brings praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Trials do not create faith; they expose and confirm the reality of it.

Though we do not see Christ now, we love Him, and even in hardship we rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy (v8). Because trials do not cancel our faith but can refine us to being more like Christ; the salvation of our souls (v9, James 1:2); we can rejoice.

  • Your faith is admired by prophets and angels! (v10-12)
Peter reminds us that the faith we now possess was long admired by those who came before us (Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon and so on). The prophets searched diligently and eagerly to understand the grace that would come through Christ, yet they were shown that what they foretold was not for themselves, but for us (v10-12; Hebrews 11:39-40). They trusted God, but they longed to see what we now live in.

What they admired from afar, we experience in full. Our faith rests in a salvation so rich and so complete that even angels long to look into it (v12). Wow, how wonderful! Because our faith is not secondhand or incomplete but the fulfillment of God’s revealed grace, we can rejoice.

So, amid trials, rejoice! Knowing that suffering does not cancel or question our faith; it only confirms how secure, genuine, and admirable it truly is. We have a faith anchored in hope, authenticated through trials and admired by heaven. How wonderful is that?!

Reflect & Pray
How do you respond in trials? In what way can remembering Peter's encouragement about your faith help you rejoice amid trial?
Father, when we feel the weight, rejection, and aloneness of trials, we ask that You remind us of how wonderful our new birth - our faith in You - is, in Jesus' name, amen.

God bless you exceedingly,
Sam.
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