For the past two weeks we have been studying 1 Peter in a
sermon series at my church here in Georgia. Today we studied 1 Peter 1:6-7:
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for 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, which perishes even though refined
by fire-may be PROVED genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when
Jesus Christ is revealed. “
verse. The promise that our trials will
not last forever is a comfort to me. I think a lot of times we wonder why we
have to go through trials at all. We wonder if God loves us less. They often hurt in the process and I know that I’ve
prayed for the Lord to spare me at times. BUT, going through these trials refines us.Going through these trials is like going through a fire. The Greek word for that is Dokimazō–to be tested by fire.
reminded us about the process of creating pottery. When a mug is first created
you can’t just pour coffee [or insert your beverage of choice] in it. You have
to create it, and then fire it. It has to be put through the fire, in order for it to
be any good. This can be a similar
process in our lives. We sometimes are put through a fire, in order to be improved, to be tested. It’s not fun, but it’s necessary.
“When you are in
the furnace God has his eyes on the clock and his hand on the thermostat. He
knows how long and how much.” – Wiersbe
I know that I
was encouraged by this message, and I wanted to share it with you. You may be
going through some trials of your own right now, but God is not going to leave
you there any longer than you need to be there. He will take you out of there
before you “explode.” So consider it a privilege to be put through the fire-to be
tested, for it is in the fire that we are PROVED genuine.
