Devotions

God’s people are not immune from trouble. Indeed, at many points in history the very fact that they were Christians assured them of special trials and tribulations. Whatever the cause and the course of their trials (for that is the meaning of temptations in our verse today), Gods people are told to rejoice. That sounds strange until we realize that the divine purpose in our trials is entirely benign, and their effect is ultimately beneficial.

Trials come in various forms. Sickness, poverty, bereavement, persecution, and calamity are all trying afflictions. Our natural response would be to complain about them, but our natural response would be wrong. These trials all come from our Fathers hand. He sends them to us to do us good, and we should rejoice under them.

We should rejoice when we are tried because testing shows the reality of our faith in Christ (I Pet. 1:7). It also is the Lords means to purify us of our dross. It weans us from the world and drives us closer to the Lord. It brings us into a closer fellowship with Him who was the man of sorrows (Isa. 53:3). It allows us to prove the power of God to enable us to triumph over Satan when we are mentally and physically at our lowest ebb.

But how can we rejoice when we are hurting? Peter supplies the answer in I Peter 1:6: Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now . . . ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Wherein refers to the glorious truths of the gospel set forth in the preceding verseselection by the Father, sanctification by the Spirit, blood-cleansing by the Son, regeneration into a living hope, and an assured inheritance in heaven. When you are tried, think on these things. The joy they impart will cause you to triumph over any earthly trial or affliction.