Secrets To Joy In The Midst Of Trials (1 Peter 1:6-9) Series

Secrets to Joy in the Midst of Trials

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:6–9

Application Question: What are common responses to suffering?

In this epistle, Peter is writing to Christians that are spread throughout Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey. They had been scattered because of the persecution coming from Rome. These believers were being persecuted for following Christ; they were being persecuted for being different. He writes to encourage them. Listen to what he says in 1 Peter 1:6: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (emphasis mine).

Peter says it is possible for these believers to have both great joy and grief in the midst of their trials. This verse can also be translated as a command “rejoice in this.” The believers were suffering in all kinds of trials. The word kinds can be translated “various or multicolored.” Some had, no doubt, lost their land, their loved ones and their careers, and yet Peter says they can still have great joy in the midst of these multicolored trials.

What is the secret to joy in trials? What’s the secret for a Christian to have joy while suffering through bankruptcy, cancer or even a lost child? Is it realistic that both joy and grief can exist together?

As we look at Scripture, we see that Peter is not the only writer who teaches this apparent paradox. Paul in fact lived it. Look at what Paul said about his trials in 2 Corinthians 6:10: “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (emphasis mine).

Paul said he was at the same time “sorrowful” and still “rejoicing.” To have joy in trials is not to deny pain. It is to recognize the fact that they can exist together. They can co-exist in the same way an expectant mother can go through the travail of birth and still have joy in thinking about what is to come. She has joy because she has the “right focus” as she considers this new baby that will be birthed into the world. In the same way, believers must have the right focus in order to have joy in their multicolored trials.

In this study, we will see six secrets to having joy in the midst of trials.

Big Question: What does Peter teach as secrets to joy in the midst of trials? How can we live this type of Christian life in the various multicolored trials we go through?

Focus on the Benefits of Salvation

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials (emphasis mine).

1 Peter 1:6

Observation Question: What is Peter referring to when he says in “this” you greatly rejoice?

In the flow of thought, this is pointing back to our new birth and inheritance in heaven in verses 3–5. Listen to what he says in the previous verses.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time (emphasis mine).

1 Peter 1:3–5

Why should believers have joy in their trials according to 1 Peter 1:3-5?

1. We rejoice in our new birth.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth (emphasis mine) into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3).

Peter says we have been given a new birth (v. 3) into a living hope through the resurrected Jesus Christ. We rejoice in the fact that we are new and we are not the same anymore. There was a time when we were dead to God, but now we are alive to him. We are alive to his Word, alive to worship, alive to one another, where before we were dead in trespasses and sin (Eph 2:1–5). This is something we can rejoice in even in the midst of trials. But that’s not it. Peter says there is more.