Through Times of Trial

Unit Two Choice Four

To those who say, "Life isn't fair," "Why do I have to have so many trials?" and, " I'm tired of being ridiculed by those who don't keep the commandments," the following scriptures found in 1 Peter will help them better understand how to respond to trials.

1 Peter 1-4

Our trials are like refiners fires. Our trials are like gold, and through the fires is where our gold is refined. Just like the verse in "America, the Beautiful," the phrase, "May God thy gold refine," gives us further insight that through faith in God during times of trial, our gold is refined through fire. In other words, we become refined through trials as gold is refined through fire. When we have faith in times of trial, we will have unspeakable joy, and we will attain our salvation.
It is acceptable before God when we accept our trials patiently. Christ suffered through the ultimate trial; to be more Christ-like, we too need to suffer the trials we have in this life with patience and humility before God. During times of trial we need to turn to Christ because He knows exactly what we're going through because He's been there.
When our trials cause us to feel ridiculed by those who don't keep the commandments, we must remember that if we suffer "for righteous sake" we will be blessed by our Father in Heaven. We need not fear men, but rather fear God and trust that when we suffer for His sake, He will take care of us.
We need to make sure we understand that our trials aren't unlike many others who are suffering. We do not suffer alone. There are plenty of people in this world suffering similar trials, and we need to be humble and realize that there are may who are suffering harder trials than ours. We need to not be ashamed about suffering for Christ's sake. Last of all, we need to make sure our trials are bringing us closer to Christ rather than driving us away from Him.