Only for a Little While

Today’s Scripture that I am clinging to is 1 Peter 1: 6-9

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. 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, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

1 Peter 1: 6-9

Peter is, by far, one of my favorite people in the Bible. I once heard someone say something like: “the fact that Peter exists, gives me hope.” I really liked that because I feel the same way. Peter made so many “mistakes.” He was always impulsive, too quick to react which often led him to say and do the wrong thing. He suffered from what I once heard one Pastor, half-jokingly said, “hoof-in-mouth-disease.” But look how Our Lord used him. Peter is a major example of what Christ can do through faulty fools once He enters their hearts.

In this passage, Peter talks to us about rejoicing in our trials because the suffering we experience is nothing else than the refining fire that will purify our faith and make us strong children of God. I often pray for God’s hand to be seen in a supernatural way so my faith would be strengthened. Peter tells me here, however, that is not necessarily the best way. The detail that will bring us the most joy is that…even when we can’t see Him…we still believe! Our faith is therefore rewarded with that inexpressible and glorious joy of the certainty of our salvation when we live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5: 7). I see here that through the trials and suffering, the important thing is to remain in His love. An astonishingly profound statement by a fisherman of Galilee...

Peter would know about faith. He is actually, an expert on the need to keep your eyes focused on Jesus, whether visible or invisible. He knows, better than most, the consequences of shifting your sight from His face to the crashing waves. He knows the scary results of listening to the howling wind instead of His voice. (Matthew 14: 22-33) Peter is, therefore, seriously qualified to tell us about it, and also to tell us about the mercy, faithfulness and patience of our Lord, of whom Peter himself has been one of the most prolific recipients.

He knows what it feels like to fail in every possible way, to then be restored and filled with the most inexhaustible love.

I pray I can learn from Peter. I pray the Holy Spirit will guide me to have faith even when I don’t see. I pray Christ, my Lord will get me through the little while of suffering, and bring me out of the storm unharmed. I pray I can see Jesus revealed in my faith and that my joy may be complete in the assurance of the fact that my name is written in the book of life since a long time ago.