We’re delighted that our good friend and brother, Simon Chase, has agreed to prepare a few “lockdown ponderings” for us! These are adapted from a series Simon is teaching at Gillingham Baptist Church, and which began when the UK went into Lockdown due to the coronavirus.
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Given our unusual situation due to the Covid 19 crisis, I want to jump straight in to 1 Peter Chapter 1 to see what Peter says in verses 6-9. The Bible was written to real people and is for real people in every place and every time – including ours, now. Since this is God’s Word, we can depend absolutely on its truth.
1. THE REALITY OF OUR SUFFERING v 6
It is a present reality for these people – Peter says ‘now’. We too are in a situation: how do we understand it? Well, Peter calls it a ‘trial’; life may bring a lot of them. The word means exactly that, not just a kind of difficulty but actually a period of scrutiny and testing – a ‘trial’ in the strict sense of that word. Trials come in ‘various’ forms and may affect each of us differently.
The impact of these trials is also real – they ‘grieve’ us. We are human and so we can be made sad, fearful, distressed, upset by the events of life. This is not in itself wrong and we need to accept the fact that such responses happen. But we must not get things out of proportion. They have come ‘for a little while’. This is in relation to what he has said about ‘now’. Keep the big picture in view. Life is more than stocks of toilet rolls – we must remember this!
We should not be surprised when ‘trials’ come; Peter says ‘if necessary’. He is not simply saying that suffering in this life is inevitable, but that such things, because they are trials, are necessities, essential. That puts a different slant on the word ‘essential’. They have to come because they are not senseless or meaningless, but for a purpose.
2. THE REASON FOR OUR SUFFERING v 7
‘So that’ is a colossal term – in order that, for this reason, because; there is a purpose to all ‘trials’. It is all about our ‘faith’ – we believe in Jesus Christ; our response to trials shows the reality of that faith. So what do trials have to do with our faith? ‘Tested genuineness’ – this is the reason for them. In trials our faith is tested to prove it is authentic; as in Rom 5:4’s ‘character’. When trials come we move towards God, not away from Him. We trust more not less. This shows our faith is no fake, no counterfeit, you are not deceiving yourself or others. It is true faith – as Job showed.
Why go to all this trouble? Well, see how much God values faith! It is ‘more precious than gold’. And see how indestructible it is! Gold ‘perishes’ but your faith cannot be extinguished: you may feel weak, but God in you is mighty and will prove it!
When we stand firm in trials our faith is ‘found to result in praise and glory and honor ’ – did you know that this would be the result of the test? Trials have great significance; the result is tremendous. For ‘at the revelation of Jesus Christ’, when we stand before His judgement seat, this will be to our – and far more to his – praise, glory and honour. The grim trials of the present will so refine our faith that the outcome will be glorious on that great day. So the ‘now’ of our Covid-19 ‘trial’ will produce glory in eternity! How we respond in faith in 2020 counts for eternity.
‘Why is this happening to me?’ Now you know. ‘What’s the point of it all?’ Now you know. So we understand that our trials now are for Jesus’ praise and glory then. That’s worth it!
3. THE REJOICING IN OUR SUFFERING vv 8-9
Thomas, who doubted, might have written this – I’m sure he never forgot the lesson. We have not seen the Lord, but is it not true that you ‘love him’? And though now we ‘do not see him’ we most certainly ‘believe in him’. That’s faith. That’s valuable in God’s sight. So we matter to him. Love changes everything; if this will be for the exaltation of Jesus whom we love, surely we can stand this!
And that love and faith (which is what is being tested) should create ‘rejoicing’ – for look what lies ahead of us – the ‘outcome’, that is, the whole purpose of, ‘our faith’. And that is ‘the salvation of our souls’. Haven’t we taken Jesus for our ‘Saviour’? He saves!
And what sort of salvation is this? Look at verses 3-5. It is ‘a living hope’ and ‘an inheritance… kept in heaven’ which is intended ‘for you’! Do you think, returning to verse 8, that we might just manage a bit of ‘joy’? Just a little bit? Or even a great deal; even in our trial. For surely this means God is working out in us exactly what he always intended, so that for all eternity we might be to the praise of his glory.
What can Covid 19 and all its implications change about this? Nothing! Our inheritance is ‘imperishable, undefiled, unfading’.
Yes, we are a suffering people. But we understand why this has had to come, and what it is achieving. And we know what comes after. We also know and love the one who is in control of all this. So we might be really suffering – but by God’s grace we can be rejoicing too!
