“God, Why Am I Hurting?”
Christianity is built on suffering. While that doesn’t look great on a billboard, it is the truth. Our entire faith is built on a suffering Savior who stepped into this world, lived among us, and died on the cross bearing all our sins.
Many people want a faith that doesn’t include suffering, and yet it is inevitable. Life in a broken world brings sorrows we cannot anticipate. In First Peter, the apostle wrote to Christians living as exiles, ostracized for their faith. His letter gives us perhaps the clearest theology of Christian suffering in all of Scripture. He looks pain in the face and gives an answer.
In 1 Peter 1:6-7, he writes: “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.” From this passage, Peter gives four certainties a Christian can hold onto when we are hurting.
1) Trials Are Temporary
When we are in pain, we often tell ourselves “it will never change.” Peter pushes against this saying our pain will only last “now for a little while.” Later Peter writes, “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10). Chronologically speaking, our present sufferings are very small compared to the vastness of eternity. For the Christian, this life is as bad as it gets. Eternity is going to be bliss, and I believe heaven will be the experience where we finally see the full picture and say, “God, you are infinitely wise. Now I understand.”
2) Trials Are Painful
We don’t need to be persuaded that trials are painful. Grieved is a good word for what trials feel like. The things that create pain in us are incredibly varied: physical, emotional, relational, financial, and the battling of fear and worry. All of them, we feel personally. We would rather not be in them. And none of this means we are supposed to walk around as super Christians declaring that our faith is being revealed and we love it! It is ok for us to admit when life is hard and we’d rather not face so much pain. We are only human after all, which is why we can experience so much freedom when we admit we don’t understand and choose to depend on our Heavenly Father to sustain us.
3) Trials Are Revealing and Refining
When we are in a trial, we want to know why. Atheism has no answer, secular humanism has no answer, but Christianity has a purpose statement right there in the text. Notice Peter says “if necessary” you will suffer. That implies someone is determining whether this trial is necessary, a sovereign God who is not distant but over every detail of our lives. God never endorses evil, but He uses it to accomplish His purposes. That is exactly what Joseph said to his brothers: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).
Peter illustrates this with gold. In the ancient world, gold was purified by heat. The goldsmith heated it until the impurities rose to the surface and were skimmed off. Only then would the karat, meaning the purity and value, increase. Fire reveals the genuine gold and refines it, and trials reveal genuine faith.
4) Purified Faith Has a Goal
The tested faith “may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” We can assume all that honor goes to God, and ultimately it does, but the text doesn’t say that specifically. Peter is including both. Think about great art. There is honor that goes to the art itself, and honor that goes to the maker. God is shaping in the story of your life a kind of artistic beauty. Your life becomes a gallery of God and honors both you and Him.
So, when the heat is up in your life, you should pull back from the problem and see it from the grand perspective of the gospel. Ask yourself whether you believe these trials are sometimes necessary and are for your good. Faith is believing that there is a sovereign God and that these momentary trials will lead us to a glory that far outweighs them (2 Corinthians 4:17). Your faith is more valuable than gold. God is in the business of refining it.
Way Points with Pastor Steve DeWitt is based on teaching from The Journey.
