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. (I Peter 1:6-7)

The Scripture instructs us to greatly rejoice in our trials, which we would all admit is much easier said than done. We have no problem offering the Lord our praise when everything is going our way. But it is a much bigger challenge to offer our praise to the Lord when we find ourselves in the midst of a trial. Even though this appears to be an impossible assignment, we are to look at the benefits the trials bring to us, and ultimately, to the cause of Christ Jesus on the earth. It is important to understand that the fire of trials will test our faith in God and test what we believer about the integrity of His Word. It is only in the testing of our faith, through our trials, that we come to the realization that our faith in God and His Word are the two most valuable assets that we have in this life.

All of the world’s gold cannot accomplish for us what our faith in God will accomplish. Through our trials, we discover that our faith is powerful and a very effective weapon against the attacks of the enemy that are used to destroy us. The question of whether the exercise of our faith will be adequate enough to gain us victory over our trials is forever answered. Through the exercise of our faith in God, and in the integrity of His Word, people will notice a marked difference in our attitudes concerning our trials and how we deal with them. They will notice that we do not walk around with a “woe is me” attitude. Ultimately, God will receive His praise, honor, and glory through the revelation of Jesus Christ in us.

Remember that your trials will not last forever, but you will. The Scripture promises you that your trials are but “now for a little while.”