Grieved by Various Trials

Video Talk

 

1 Peter 1:6-9 ESV

 

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

 

The Lord Jesus led me here to read through a previous writing on this same passage of Scripture, for it had a whole litany of trials I had gone through then over a fairly short period of time. And so I believe he would have me share those with you as personal examples of the kinds of trials this may be talking about. For not all trials are big things, but they come in all shapes and sizes and in volumes of severity.

 

So, this was in 2017, but it really began in 2016. First we moved 500 miles away from where we had been living back to our home state and city. Five months later we had bed bugs in our apartment, for the whole building was infested with them, but we didn’t know. And we had never had bed bugs before, and we never thought we would ever have them, but we did. And I got huge bites on my body which swelled up and which were not just itchy, but which were extremely painful (they stung). And then I came to realize that the bed bugs were hiding in my hair, so I had to cut my hair super short then, and it was just a horrible experience all the way around.

 

Several months later I had a skin allergic reaction to cold which I had never had before and so I Googled the symptoms, and I did the self-test it recommended, and the diagnosis was cold urticaria. And it was a very painful skin rash which swelled up and which burned. But the self-treatment was to avoid skin contact with the cold, and that worked. But then we moved again, about another 500 miles away, and we now had a new doctor who wasn’t very nice, and he didn’t like it that I self-diagnosed. And then he wanted me to take an antihistamine for it, but I had been pharmaceutical drug dependent free for 10 years at that point, so I declined. And then he mocked me because I would not accept drugs as my “savior.”

 

Then he did a blood test and he discovered I had low vitamin B-12, and so he prescribed over-the-counter vitamin B-12 for me to take, but I didn’t remember how much to take, so I only took a fourth of what he wanted me to take, but I had a severe allergic reaction to it. For my mouth and tongue immediately swelled, and my throat mostly closed up, so I stopped taking that. And I only agreed to take it in the first place because I thought it was all natural, but it turned out that it wasn’t all natural and that the hidden ingredient was known to cause that kind of reaction in some people.

 

And then I had another skin rash on my thigh which I treated with Vaseline. And then we went away for a weekend and we stayed in a hotel. And the first room had definite signs of bed bugs, so we moved to another, and then to another room. But then I had multiple bed bug bites just like from the previous year, and that was miserable for a few days, but we avoided taking them home with us, praise the Lord. And then when we got back home, and I was getting out of the car to get the mail, my foot caught on my purse strap and I fell face down out of the car on to the pavement below.

 

And then we moved back to where we had been living prior to the first move, so now a little over 400 miles away, and here we had a mice infestation and I got seriously ill from that for eight weeks, which left my right leg with permanent nerve damage so that I now use a walker to walk out in public. And then at the end of last year I got Covid, evidently, and I was sick for at least six weeks (into February), and I was in serious pain for that whole time. And since then my hair has started falling out in huge clumps and so I have had to cut it short, and that is where I am presently. So, life has its trials, big and small, and sometimes one after another.

 

But these have come to test the genuineness of our faith. And if our faith is strong, we should respond to these trials with greater faith, and we should not falter. And if our faith is weak, the trials should make us aware of where we yet have need to grow in our walks of faith. For via these kinds of trials we learn to trust God more, and they humble us, and they teach us perseverance and determination to continue saying “No!” to Satan, and “No!” to sin, and to say “Yes!” to God and to his righteousness. And the end result is the salvation of our souls, which is the outcome of genuine (tested) faith in Jesus Christ.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjhKsNykRK8

Caution: This link may contain ads

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

Caution: This link may contain ads