If Jesus is so powerful and if Jesus loves me so much, then why do I have to suffer what I’m going through today? This question is really nothing new. After all, Jesus promised that anyone who followed Him would face persecution at the hands of a sinful world (John 15:18-20; Mark 10:30). And remember – Jesus’ own disciples abandoned Him when He was arrested precisely because they refused to believe that suffering was an inevitable part of discipleship.

And yet when we look around the world and think back through human history, we can’t deny that the church tends to grow the fastest in the most difficult environments. Moreover, when we look at our own lives, we have to admit that our faith in God deepens the most not in the good times, but in the tough times.

In 1:7, Peter tells us why: our trust in God tends to grow when it is tested, just as gold is rid of its impurities by being melted. And that just makes sense – when everything is going right, we don’t need to trust God to help us or save us, do we? Instead, it’s when we need Him most that we tend to cry out to Him and depend on Him.

At the same time, it is when our need for God is greatest that our trust in Him becomes most precious to us. When all we have left is our hope of His help, we cling to that hope ever more tightly.

And the good news is that this desperate, precious hope will not be disappointed. In 1:7, Peter reminds us that when Jesus comes again, He will reward all those who have been faithful to Him, giving back to us some of the praise, honor, and glory that we have given to Him in both good times and bad. When Christ returns, 1:4 reminds us that those who love and trust Jesus will receive a permanent heavenly inheritance, one that will make all the trials of this present age fade into insignificance.

But how can we know all this is true? That’s the wonderful assurance we find in 1:3. The good news is that if we have trusted in Christ as our Savior and if we have bowed the knee to Him as our Lord, if our sinful hearts have been awakened into a new life which has allowed us to place our faith in Christ, that is only because God has caused this rebirth in us. Just as He raised Jesus from the dead, God is the One Who takes the initiative in our salvation, taking away our hearts of stone and giving us hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26-27) that respond to this new life with love and trust for Him.

And God has done all of this because of His great mercy, His pity, His compassion on us. So no matter what happens to us today, let us trust in Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. Let us look for His coming with confidence. And let us rest in God’s great love for us.

I Peter 1:3-7 (NASB)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
7 that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.