Monday Morning Encouragement -- Suffering's Reward

 

"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith -- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire -- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 

  1 Peter 1:6-7

One of my favorite women of faith is Corrie Ten Boom. During WWII her family hid hundreds of Jews in their home, protecting them from arrest. Eventually her entire family was imprisoned in Nazi internment camps after being betrayed by a neighbor. All but Corrie perished in the camps. During her imprisonment she led countless people to Christ, and after the war she continued to serve the Lord by sharing her story with the world. She once said, "I have experienced His presence in the

deepest hell that man can create. I have really tested the promises of the Bible, and believe me, you can count on them." 

Corrie faced unbelievable hardship. Her faith was tested beyond what most of us will ever encounter, yet she never wavered in her devotion to Christ. Her life is a testament to today's Bible verse. She endured the trials set before her and continued to trust in God, and He rewarded her with a genuine, unshakable faith. God used her to reach the world with the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. All for His  glory and honor.

God doesn't test us because He wants to know how deep our faith is, He tests us so we'll know how deep our faith is. When we come through hardship with a stronger, deeper faith, we are profoundly changed in a way that we would never have encountered had the trial never come into our life.

Charles Spurgeon puts it this way:

“Indeed, it is the honor of faith to be tried. Shall any man say, ‘I have faith, but I have never had to believe under difficulties’? Who knows whether thou hast any faith? Shall a man say, ‘I have great faith in God, but I have never had to use it in anything more than the ordinary affairs of life, where I could probably have done without it as well as with it’? Is this to the honor and praise of thy faith? Dost thou think that such a faith as this will bring any great glory to God, or bring to thee any great reward? If so, thou art mightily mistaken.” (Spurgeon)

Peter exhorts us to "rejoice" when our faith is tested. Not because we love to suffer, but because we look past the present suffering to the day when our faith will be fully rewarded at Jesus' return. In the meantime, when we are tested through trials and come through them with stronger faith, we have the present reward of knowing our faith is genuine. 

This is something to celebrate!

Today's music video Thank You Lord (For The Trials That Come My Way) by Apple Crisol is a gentle praise song in surrender to God. I hope you'll be touched and inspired by the tune and lyrics.

I love you, I'm thinking of you, and I'm praying for you.