1 Peter 1:6-7 "In all 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 the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
"How are you really doing?"
4 Things to Know About Hardship
The fire you are in is not a sign that God has abandoned you. Its proof that his grace is refining you.
#1 — HARDSHIP IS NORMAL.
1 Peter 4:12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
1. Acts 14:21 Then they returned … strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,”
2. 1 Peter 1:6 "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials."
3. Philippians 1:29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him
4. John 16:33 Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
That's not pessimism. That's preparation.
Weren't being punished - Were people being prepared
#2 — HARDSHIP HAS A PURPOSE
Malachi 3:2-3 "For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver."
Job 23:10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
1 Peter 1:6 In all 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 the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed
“I have derived more real benefit and permanent strength and growth in grace, and every precious thing, from the furnace of affliction, than I have ever derived from prosperity. …. So are many things learned in adversity which the prosperous man dreams not of. Troubles, like files, take away our rust; like furnaces, they consume our dross; like winnowing-fans, they drive away the chaff, and we would have but little usefulness if we had not been made to pass through the furnace. And in all our troubles, we have found the character of God a comfort, for the Refiner is never very far from the mouth of the furnace when His gold is in the fire.
#3 HARDSHIP PRODUCES Maturity
Romans 5:3-4 "We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."
Notice the progression: Suffering → Perseverance → Character → Hope
#4 HARDSHIP IS temporary
1 Peter 1:6 "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while..."
2 Corinthians 4:17 "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."
Isaiah 53:3 "He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain."
