The Trial of Your Faith, Part 2

We pick up where we left off considering “the trial of your faith,” which is mentioned in this passage:

1 Peter 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ….

Three words that I have often emphasized when I have dealt with this passage are those words “if need be.” If you are presently “in heaviness through manifold temptations,” it is because you need to be. Any temptation in your life is there because it needs to be. Furthermore, it can only be there if God permits it to be.

1 Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

This verse lets us know that it is God that suffers (permits) a temptation to get through to us. But it also assures us that our God is faithful to never let any temptation get to us that is above our ability to bear. And He will “with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” Now Satan will do his utmost to convince you that whatever trial you undergoing is more than you can handle. But that is his lie to get you to doubt God’s faithfulness. And once you doubt that, Satan has you right where he wants you. So when you are in heaviness, keep 1Corinthians 10:13 steadily in mind.

There are a couple of other very important things that 1Corinthians teaches about a temptation. Not only it is there because God allowed it, but it is also common to man. You are not the only one to struggle with it.

1 Peter 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Because we are Christians our battles with the devil certainly qualify to be afflictions for us, and they are afflictions our brethren also experience. And it gives us comfort to know this. This very point jumped out at me one time when I was reading the book of Lamentations.

Lamentations 2:13  What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?

Note that in order to comfort the virgin daughter of Zion, the prophet needed to find something to liken to her or to equal her. So it is with us. If we learn of something that is like to what we are dealing with or equal to our temptation, we find comfort. We don’t feel so alone or odd in that case. We all have experienced sharing a struggle with someone and discovering to our great relief that they have had the same struggle.

Another very important thing to glean from 1Corinthians 10:13 is that when you are dealing with a difficult temptation, God in His faithfulness will make a way of escape so that you can bear it without being overcome by it. But note! This point is crucial! The escape is not that the temptation goes away entirely. Rather, the escape is found in being able to bear it! God provides some outlet, some resource so that you find help, comfort, and peace to be able to bear it. Don’t doubt this because if you do, the help could be right in front of you staring you in the face and you won’t see it. Nothing is so blinding as unbelief in the word of the living God.

I go to 1Corinthians 10:13 because it is so germane to the subject of temptation and we are dealing with the “manifold temptations” mentioned in 1Peter 1:6-7. But I now wish to come back to 1Peter 1:6-7 from which I draw the title of these meditations, The Trial of Your Faith. Zero in on those words “more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire.” Now the question is whether Peter is describing “your faith” as being more precious than gold, or “the trial of your faith” as being more precious than gold. Is it the faith or the trial that is more precious than gold? Well, if you think about it, it’s both. There is no question that faith is precious. In his second epistle, Peter writes “to them that have obtained like precious faith with us” (2Peter 1:1). And faith is more precious “than gold that perisheth.” But insofar as our trials purify our faith like fire purifies gold thus making better stuff of our faith, the trial can also be deemed precious.

Now I shall have more to say about why the trial of your faith is so precious, but that will be for another installment, God willing. For now I would like to exhort you to examine yourself as to just how precious your faith is to you. Is it more precious than your most precious material possession such as gold might be? This verse should give you some idea of the premium God places upon faith:

James 2:5  Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

If you have faith, you have the potential to be very rich, if that faith increases. And that is what the trial of your faith is all about. If you properly respond to the trial, it will purify your faith of its weaknesses and cause it to be stronger and thus better. So why wouldn’t you consider the process precious that increases the value of your most precious possession? In the end it will only make you richer. Perhaps you can now get a glimpse into why the apostle Paul could write: “most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities” (2Corinthians 12:9). Those infirmities enriched his faith. This was a man so rich in faith that he “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). How would you like to have a faith that was even remotely that effective? And if you are “rich in faith,” then you are “heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him.” As is said in our modern slang, “It don’t get no better than that!”

The Trial of Your Faith, Part 1

As I was praying this morning, my mind was going over several of the burdens that the people under my ministry are bearing. Other than the stresses that are common to everyday living, and the aches and limitations that come with aging, my personal life is going well beyond anything I deserve. But quite a number of the people under my ministry are going through some very sore trials. I endeavour with the help of God to be a pastor to these people after the pattern of the apostle Paul, who wrote this to the church at Thessalonica:

1 Thessalonians 2:7  But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:

8  So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.

Being like a nurse to these people and holding them dear to my heart, their burdens become my burdens. What nurse is worth her salt that does not feel burdened for the sufferings of those she cares for? Not that I bear the burdens of my people to the same extent as they, but I do bear great concern, a concern I bring before God in my prayers for them.

As I consider these things, I sometimes wonder why it is that there is so much trouble among the people I serve and strive to bless. I search my own heart and wonder if there is something wrong with me or something lacking in my ministry. Am I being punished? And then I see others who claim to be ministers of Christ with prospering ministries when I know they are promoting glaring errors. I wonder why it is thus? Have I missed something? But as I was praying today, it came to my mind that the Lord is letting all this happen as a trial of my faith. And, it follows, that the faith of my people whom I serve is also being tried. This all took me to this passage that I have preached on several times before, but that I need to be continually reminded of:

1 Peter 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ….

The believers to whom Peter was writing were “in heaviness through manifold temptations.” Manifold temptations are varied or different kinds of temptations. That is what I see throughout the church I serve. I see all kinds of troubles that the folks are going through. And those are the ones I know of! What must it be were I to add on those I know nothing of?

Now a temptation arises from being tempted. The word tempt as defined in a dictionary and as used in the Bible can refer to a trouble that tries or tests a person, or it can refer to an attraction to do something evil. A temptation might be a sickness, a personal loss, or a persecution. But it might also be some strong attraction to evil. For a Christian, being strongly attracted to something sinful can be an affliction. Let’s face it, unfulfilled desire is vexing and that is exactly what we experience when we are strongly attracted to something sinful that we know we must not give into. And such a temptation also becomes a test. Will we stay true to God and do what is right, or will be forsake the Lord and fulfill our lust? And every trouble you go through, even if the trouble itself is not an allurement to sin, can lead to sinning if you use it as an excuse to forsake the Lord and do your own thing.

Also notice that these manifold temptations were causing these believers to be in heaviness, which suggests that these temptations were a source of pressure or stress. These were hard tests. They were not easy to get through or resist. Some of the troubles my folks are going through are pressing them heavily. They are sore temptations. And inasmuch as I care for my people like a nurse, I am in heaviness as well.

So what is the effect of being “in heaviness through manifold temptations”? The effect is called “the trial of your faith.” Now let’s define the word trial.

Trial - The action of testing or putting to the proof the fitness, truth, strength, or other quality of anything; test, probation.

“The trial of your faith” is a putting of your faith to the test to prove it. “The trial of your faith” will prove whether your faith is true or false. Do you really believe God and what He says in His word? Do you really believe the King James Bible is the pure, preserved word of God? Do you really believe you are in a true church sitting under a true man of God, and is he really telling you the truth? Your trials are going to prove if you really believe what you say you do. For, you see, it would be easy to answer “yes” to all of these questions if everything was going smoothly, if you and all your family were enjoying robust health and plenty of money, and all getting along well. But will you trust God and hold to what you believe is the truth when things are going against you, and you are in heaviness through all kinds of troubles? If you can hold fast your faith in such circumstances, then “yes,” you really do believe all those things. For your trials will prove whether faith is real or feigned. In 1Timothy 1:5, Paul mentions a “faith unfeigned.” That is a faith that is not pretended, that is genuine. It is a faith that runs deep, rather than some superficial believing that might arise over hearing something new. Temptations will prove that superficial faith to be the fake that it is.

Luke 8:13  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

According to the verse we are considering in 1Peter, the trying of your faith works like the trying of gold with fire. The fire purges out the impurities in the gold and makes better stuff of it. So your trial will reveal whatever is defective in your faith. Perhaps you are putting too much trust in the creature comforts God is giving you. In that case, all the Lord has to do is remove those comforts and then it will be seen if your faith rests in Him or in the comforts He gives. The following passage set forth this particular purpose for trials.

Deuteronomy 8:2  And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

The Lord is going to test you to see if you truly believe His word and will obey it even in the face of loss. He will test you to see if you are living by His word, or by what you put in your belly, or what makes you comfortable.

And, furthermore, “the trial of your faith” will test the strength of your faith. If adversity causes your faith to falter, then your faith is weak.

Proverbs 24:10  If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

We should all want a faith like Abraham of whom it is written:

Romans 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Abraham believed God even when his circumstances were screaming that what God had promised couldn’t possibly be. If you find your faith caving in under the pressure of your manifold temptations, then let me suggest you pray this simple prayer of the disciples of Christ:

Luke 17:5  And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

I can see now that this meditation is expanding. So I’ll have more to say about this in another installment. In the meantime, suffice it to say that if you are “in heaviness through manifold temptations,” God is working something in your life that will turn out wonderful in the end. Stay tuned for more.