Trials and Trouble: Peter
We're still considering the "Via Dolorosa" (the Way of Suffering) that Jesus walked to the cross. Because Jesus embraced our suffering James, Paul, Peter and the early church were able to face suffering too. Yesterday we saw how James recognised that trouble comes, but can be faced with joy because we can grow through it and ask for wisdom as we need it.Peter makes 3 vital points about our troubles and hardships:
1. Peter approaches trouble from the perspective of hope. Although some would accuse him of being "pie in the sky one day when we die", we need to remember that Peter was so sure in his hope that church history tells us that he requested to be crucified upside down because he didn't count himself worthy of dying like Jesus did. His future hope gave him the courage to do this. He saw an inheritance that would neither perish, spoil or fade...
2. But Peter was also convinced that trials and trouble offered an opportunity to grow. When gold is melted, the heaviness of its molecules means that all other impurities (the "dross") float to the top, leaving pure gold underneath. When we go through trouble, it brings an amazing clarity about the things that really matter and focuses our priorities like nothing else.
3. The other amazing thing about suffering is that God draws us near to Him in a way that defies logic and understanding. Although the trouble can make us feel far from God, we can emerge from a time of trial loving Him more and being more certain of his presence. This is the counter-intuitive aspect of our faith - our troubles don't diminish our hope but increase it: "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy..."
Now read through the passage with these three points in mind and then pray with me: "Dear Lord, it's easy to lose hope when trouble comes. Help me to keep the bigger picture in mind. Thank you that trouble helps me to see the things that really matter. Help me to draw near to You and fill me with the courage+hope+purpose=joy that I need. In the name of the One who walked the Via Dolorosa. Amen.
| Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 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 honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1Peter1:3-9) |
