“WHEREIN ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 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 honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”―1 Peter 1:6-86Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7That 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 honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: (1 Peter 1:6‑8).
GOD’S children are a blessed but a tried people. Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, they are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ;” but they have sorrow. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” More or less, this is the portion of all: not constantly, but every now and then. Being objects of our heavenly Father’s choice we come under His peculiar care; so that if we are called to pass through that which makes the heart sad and heavy, it is only what is necessary and best for us― “if need be ye are in heaviness.” Mark, “if need be.” Let us think of this; for if we know what it is to feel tenderly for our children, we may be assured that our heavenly Father, our perfect Father, will never cause His child a needless tear. Our trials, then, are only when needed, and as much as needed, so that we may be sure there is a “need be” for every one. This is comforting, and enables us to cheerfully submit to the Lord’s dealings, however painful to the desires of flesh and blood they may be, or contrary to our judgment as to their character or extent. The chief object of our Father’s discipline is to bring us into subjection to Himself, as well as to make us happy in Himself.
“It needs our hearts be wean’d from earth,
It needs that we be driven,
By loss of every earthly stay,
To find our rest in heaven.”
How true, too, it is that our trials are various; “manifold temptations.” Scarcely two Christians seem tried exactly in the same way, and perhaps no Christian finds himself in a precisely similar trial to what he has previously passed through. And so we might expect; for if our heavenly Father’s purpose is so to exercise us that we may be weaned from carnal confidantes and other earthly resources, and be brought into subjection to the Father of spirits, made partakers of His holiness, and groom in the knowledge of God, variety of trial seems necessitated; for repetition of the same trial would scarcely exercise us at all.
We do well, however, to notice that the trial is only “for a season.” Is it any delight to our loving Father to see us troubled? Assuredly not. The definite trial is sent for a certain purpose, and when that is accomplished, it is usually followed with peculiar comfort. The apostolic churches were greatly tried by persecution; but after “a season” we read, “Then had the churches rest;” and they walked in the fear of the Lord, and comfort of the Holy Ghost. Job was greatly distressed for “a season,” but when he took the place of self-judgment and self-abhorrence before God, and of prayer for his friends, then the Lord turned the captivity of Job, and the Lord comforted him greatly, and gave him twice as much as he had before. We may generally conclude, that if we are in trial, it is to prepare us for some special blessing that will follow. “Before honor is humility.” If God bring us low, it is that He may lift us up. If He take away a good thing from us, it is generally to give us better. Yet a messenger of Satan may be needful sometimes, lest we be lifted up by the abundance of God’s blessings. We may be sure, whatever be the trial, that there is a need-be for it, that it is only for “a season,” and but if we still trust in the Lord, it will be found unto praise and honor and glory at the Lord’s appearing.
But with all the present heaviness there is present rejoicing― “wherein ye greatly rejoice.” This is cheering. The apostle Paul tells us, as to his own experience, that he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” It is well then to be able to distinguish in our own souls between the pressure of circumstances and the real object of our heart’s joy―the Lord Himself. Circumstances are very changeful, but He changes not; He is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever,” and His perfect love and almighty power are always engaged on our behalf, so that there is always abundant reason for rejoicing in Him. It is very blessed, then, when feeling the circumstances of sorrow we are called to pass through, to know that the Spirit of God calls us to look above the circumstances to One “whom having not seen we love.” And why do we love Him? Is it not because He first loved us? Did He not die for us, even when we were ungodly and without strength? And is He not now our great High Priest in heaven, ever loving us, pleading for us, sympathizing with us, and caring for us in every way? And is He not soon coming for us? Therefore it is that, though we see Him not, yet believing we can rejoice. Surely this is the great secret of the pilgrim’s happiness; not seeking rest and peace in circumstances, be they painful or pleasant, but looking away from and above the circumstances unto Jesus, and finding joy and gladness in Him. We can then bring His grace and power and world to bear on the present path.
Now should we expect only a little joy in the Lord when looking off unto Him? for as we here find, these tried and persecuted Christians had “joy unspeakable.” Yes, “joy unspeakable.” No words can express this joy. It is deep, never-failing, most blessed, and eternal. Those who realize it cannot tell it out to the dearest friend. When the eye gazes only on Jesus, and the ear listens only to His voice, the heart welcomes His sweet words, and the whole soul has only to do with Him, then it is that there is no cloud between, and our joy in Him is unspeakable. No tongue can tell, no pen describe the glow and gladsome feeling, when the heart bounds over everything else, and considers the Lord Jesus Himself. But the joy also is “full of glory;” for the object is the Lord of glory, the center and spring of glory, who bids us now rejoice in hope of glory, and who will soon come and give us to behold His glory, and change us into His own glorious likeness. The joy, therefore, of the believer, which the precious blood of Christ gives to Mm, is unlimited, and bounds into endless and eternal glory.
Happy those who, while feeling the pressure of present sorrow, and who may be in “heaviness through manifold temptations,” can so look off unto Jesus, as the one object of the heart’s affections, as to be able to rejoice in Him “with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”