Praising the Lord in the Storms of Life

Preached by Pastor Chad Rickenbaker on June 21, 2026 (Watch Online)  |  1 Peter 1:3–5

1 Peter — “Praising the Lord in the Storms of Life” (Part 2)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
—1 Peter 1:3–5 (NKJV)

When are you most likely to sing out loud? For a lot of us, the honest answer is in the car, by myself, where no one else has to hear it. Or maybe it’s when your favorite song comes on the radio and you’re singing along before you even realize it. Either way, there’s a pattern worth noticing: most of us are far more likely to lift our voices when we feel good, when life is going our way, the weather’s nice, and things are easy.

But what about when things aren’t great? What about when you’re walking through adversity, difficulty, trial, suffering, and pain? Is it as easy to worship then? Can you praise God then, too?

That’s the question Peter is answering. He’s writing to persecuted, suffering Christians who were in for a genuinely rough road, and he doesn’t soften it. Hardship isn’t if for the believer; it’s when. Peter says so plainly, and he doesn’t minimize a thing:

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
—1 Peter 4:12 (NKJV)

Jesus said the same. We shouldn’t be shocked or caught off guard when suffering comes:

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
—John 16:33 (NKJV)

So trials are coming. The question is what we do with them, because how you respond to hardship will, in many cases, determine the result. The same fire makes one person better and another person bitter, and the deciding factor is usually the response. With the right perspective, when the storm comes (and it will), you’ll actually be able to praise the Lord right in the middle of it. How? By remembering your spiritual blessings. Peter names four of them.

We Have Received Abundant Mercy

Look at verse 3. The very first word in the New King James is blessed, and blessed means praise. Peter is saying: praise the Lord. And remember the context: he’s writing to people living under, or about to live under, the tyranny of Nero. This isn’t easy, sunny-day praise. It’s glad-hearted, joyful worship in the teeth of real persecution. How is that even possible? Because of what they have in Christ.

Start with this: He has begotten us again. Remember Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night? Jesus answered the question Nicodemus never even asked (how do I enter the kingdom of God?) with one requirement:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
—John 3:3 (NKJV)

We’re all born with a sin nature, dead in our trespasses, and we cannot enter God’s kingdom as we are. We have to be born again, and we don’t do that. God does. So when Peter says God “has begotten us again,” he’s handing all the credit to God and calling us to praise Him for it. Your circumstances may be terrible, but if you’re saved, you’re saved by the will and the activity of God. That alone is worth praising Him for.

And notice why He did it: “according to His abundant mercy.” Mercy is God withholding what we deserve. Justice demands a penalty; mercy withholds it. What our sin actually earns is separation from God, and God, out of abundant mercy, has withheld that and given us what we need instead. His mercy is abundant because our need is abundant. So however hard your circumstances, you can praise God that He’s shown you mercy and caused you to be born again.

We Have a Living Hope

Here’s the second blessing: God has begotten us again “to a living hope.” But we have to understand what hope means here, because the Bible’s idea of hope is very different from ours. Our version is mostly wishful thinking: I hope it doesn’t rain; I hope our team wins. It’s what we want, with little assurance behind it. Biblical hope is the opposite: a confident assurance and an eager expectation.

Confident of what? Two things, at least. First, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, because this living hope comes “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Jesus is alive, ascended, and He will return at the time only the Father knows. That’s not wishful thinking; it’s settled expectation. Paul says exactly this:

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
—Philippians 3:20–21 (NKJV)

Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.
—Philippians 4:1 (NKJV)

Second, our own bodily resurrection. Jesus is the firstfruits, the first of many who will be raised:

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
—1 Corinthians 15:20 (NKJV)

One day this old, raggedy body will be laid in the grave, and at Christ’s return, raised up new and glorious. And all your loved ones who knew Him and have gone on ahead will receive their glorified bodies too, and together we’ll worship Him forever. That’s how you praise God in the middle of suffering: with your eyes on a hope that’s coming, not wishful, but sure. One thing that will trip you up is the lie that God has given you less than you deserve. The truth is the reverse: what we deserve is judgment, and in mercy He has withheld it. Walk in that, and you can be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

We Have a Reserved Inheritance

The third blessing is in verse 4: an inheritance “incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” Your salvation has a past (the cross, the moment you believed), a present (your relationship with Him now), and a future, and this inheritance is the future part. And, like Israel’s inheritance of the land, there’s a real, physical aspect to ours:

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
—2 Peter 3:13 (NKJV)

For some people this part of the promise doesn’t land, because we have misconceptions about it, as if heaven means floating around as angel-babies strumming harps on clouds. If that’s the picture, no wonder it doesn’t stir anyone. But the new earth won’t be entirely unlike this one. Remember, when God made the heavens and the earth, was anything wrong with it?

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
—Genesis 1:31 (NKJV)

It was very good. Even now, in a fallen and cursed creation, there are still remnants of that beauty and glory. So you can begin to imagine a renewed earth with incredible things to explore and enjoy, even work, but without the curse: no sweat of the brow, no frustration, no aggravation, everything at maximum joy, all to the glory of God.

And this inheritance never wears out. Peter stacks three words on it: incorruptible (it cannot perish), undefiled (it cannot spoil), and it does not fade away (it stays brand new). Anything you’ve ever owned brand new, did it stay that way? Consider a brand-new truck bought in college: hit a deer and crushed the front end, hit a dog and crushed it again, parked it on a hill without setting the gear and watched it roll into a tree, then caught a runaway boat trailer with the tailgate. Three front ends and one back end, because nothing stays new here. But your inheritance will never fade. A thousand years into heaven it’ll be as new as your first day; ten thousand years in, still brand new. It’ll always have that new-car smell, and it’ll never go away.

We Have a Secure Salvation

The fourth blessing, and this is why we can worship no matter what, is in verse 5: we “are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Peter is writing to people whose suffering was about to get worse, and some of them surely wondered: will my faith even survive this? His answer is stunning. You can go ahead and praise God right now, because by His power your faith will be kept: guarded, protected, preserved. Not because you’re strong, but because He is.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
—Romans 8:28–39 (NKJV)

Did I believe on Jesus as a nine-year-old boy? Yes. Am I believing on Him right now? Yes. Will I keep believing to the end? Absolutely, not because I’m confident in myself, but because I’m confident in the promise and the power of God. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. Notice the interplay, though: we’re kept by His power through our faith. He protects us, specifically, He protects us from falling away. It’s hard to worship when you’re not sure you’ll make it; but God has done everything needed so that, through faith in Him, you can know you will.

So, How Do We Sing in the Storm?

Pull the four together and the storm loses its last word over your worship: you have received abundant mercy, you’ve been born again into a living hope, you have a reserved inheritance that never fades, and you have a secure salvation kept by the power of God. Remember those, and suffering won’t drive you away; it’ll draw you closer.

And if worship feels harder for you right now, in some trial you didn’t choose, that’s okay. God isn’t judging you in that moment. He’s inviting you to remember that you can still praise Him. Pastor Chad closed with a confession of his own — a Sunday the church lost a young man named David, after he had preached that very morning that God is our protector, and the honest wrestling that followed. Where were You? The answer he came to is the same one Peter is preaching:

God’s power does not shield believers from every trial and suffering, but it does protect us from that which would ultimately cause us to fall away. Our great aim was never to live forever in this fallen world; it’s to live forever with God in the new heavens and the new earth. So take notes. Mark this passage in your Bible, write it on the back of your bulletin, tuck it somewhere, because if you don’t need it today, you will need it someday. And when you need it, it will be there. More importantly, He will be there. He’s got you.

Scripture references in this message: 1 Peter 1:3–5; 1 Peter 4:12; John 16:33; John 3:3; Philippians 3:20–21; Philippians 4:1; 1 Corinthians 15:20; 2 Peter 3:13; Genesis 1:31; Romans 8:28–39. (NKJV)

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.