1 Peter 1:6-7, New Living Translation

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

It’s easy to cave in to the negative feelings that overcome you in a moment. I have heard people talk about worshiping God in the moments that are difficult. That is easier said than done. I believe it takes self-discipline to make that happen. You have to choose, in that moment, to worship God, even if you don’t feel like it; even if your circumstances tell you not to. It’s not something we automatically “just do.”

In that moment, when you choose to worship, even though it is a challenge, your heart is open to God. It is open to receive. You feel weak in the moment, but in our weakness, He is strong. I have to believe that. He has seen me through every moment of my life. Why would He stop now? King David had many sorrows and tribulations in his life. Through all of that, He worshiped the Lord. He gained strength from the Lord. He gained understanding and wisdom from the Lord. He was a man after God’s own heart. That’s who I want to be. A woman after God’s own heart.

Life is not always easy. It is through the difficult moments that we are refined as gold and our faith is proven genuine. 1 Peter 1: 6-7 (NLT) puts it this way, “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

So the question comes to this. Where will we put our faith? Where will we put our trust? Evidence shows that humanity is broken. I am sure in each of our own personal lives, we have experienced another individual letting us down in some shape or fashion. As unintentional as it may be, it happens. But we have One who will never let us down. His name is Jesus. He gave His very life’s blood to purchase our salvation. He died for you, and He died for me. Scripture says, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13, NLT)

When all else fails, I will put my hope in Jesus. I will put my hope in His love for me. I hope that you will do the same. I had mentioned earlier how in worship we open our hearts to God. I want us to revisit that for a moment. Though our faith is being refined, we experience hurt that affects us in different ways. I want to open our hearts to God for His healing and truth to come in as we trust in Him. Scripture says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” (Psalm 34:18, NLT) 

Revelation 21:4 (NLT) says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” What a beautiful truth to hold onto! When we are going through whatever it may be we are going through, perhaps the Holy Spirit will quicken this scripture to your spirit to encourage you… to encourage me… to stand fast and to stay strong in the Lord. We have to stay strong in the Lord. We will not make it through this life without Him. But with Him, we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. (Philippians 4:13) We are on a temporary journey. This earth is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven. With the help of our Savior, we are going to make it!