Trials That Refine

Preached by Pastor Chad (Dr. Chad Rickenbaker) on June 28, 2026 | 1 Peter 1:6–7

1 Peter — “Trials That Refine”

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. —1 Peter 1:6–7 (NKJV)

God knows exactly what He is doing in your life. He knows exactly what He is up to, and He knows everything you need. Consider the Apostle Paul—a man God used to reach the lost, plant churches, and raise up leaders—and yet a man with a remarkably humble, realistic understanding of his own spiritual need.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. —Philippians 3:12 (NKJV)

That’s a striking admission from someone like Paul: I’m not there yet. There is still refining that needs to take place. If we’re honest and humble, most of us would say the same—there’s still work to be done in our hearts and minds. God uses different means to refine us and help us grow, and one of those means is the one we’d least prefer. As we read in 1 Peter, one of the ways God refines our faith, and reveals its genuineness, is through our trials. So in 1 Peter 1:6–7, here are four truths about trials.

Trials Are Not the Reason We Greatly Rejoice

Depending on how you read verse 6, you might think Peter is telling us to celebrate because we’re suffering. But to rejoice and praise God for the grief itself would be strange. Peter isn’t pointing to the trial as the reason for our joy—he’s pointing back to the blessings of our salvation he had just described:

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)

We rejoice that God gave us not what we deserve but what we need—abundant mercy. We rejoice that in that mercy He caused us to be born again into a living hope.

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)

That living hope is tied to the resurrection of Jesus and our own coming bodily resurrection—this life isn’t all there is. And it includes an inheritance reserved in heaven, the completion of a salvation that cannot be taken away. Will my faith endure to the end? Verse 5 answers: you are kept by the power of God. No trial can touch that security.

Here’s what’s easy to miss: “greatly rejoice” is present tense—something we do right now. And “grieved” is present tense too. Peter is saying rejoicing in your salvation and experiencing grief are not mutually exclusive. There’s a notion in Christian circles that we should keep a stiff upper lip, that we ought to be stoic in suffering. Peter says otherwise. In fact, the word translated “grieved” is the same word used of Jesus in Gethsemane:

Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” —Matthew 26:38 (NKJV)

That’s deep mental and emotional anguish. So you can rejoice in your salvation while genuinely grieving a trial. The key is whether your grief drives you into deeper intimacy with God. There’s no guarantee it will—you decide that. But the further you go into intimacy with Him, the more spiritual resources you find He’s providing. Our rejoicing isn’t in our suffering; it’s in our salvation.

Trials Are Temporary

Look again at verse 6: “though now for a little while.” This does not mean our grief will be brief—but it is temporary. It cannot last forever. All pain and sorrow will be swallowed up at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will wipe away every tear.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. —Revelation 21:4 (NKJV)

Vaneetha Risner titled a Desiring God article with a line worth writing down: your pain has an end date. Even when suffering feels endless, God knows exactly how long it will last—an exact day and time predetermined by Him. Maybe your end date is soon. Maybe it isn’t in this lifetime. So what do we do in the meantime?

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. —Lamentations 3:22–23 (NKJV)

Paul’s own end date for his suffering was when Jesus took him home. He pleaded for relief and received a different answer:

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” —2 Corinthians 12:7–9 (NKJV)

So here’s the practice: when you sense God’s mercy and grace meeting your need, walk in it—and don’t go looking to borrow grief in a time of comfort. When the grief creeps back in, you’re allowed to feel it. Then when His grace returns, walk in that again. As Warren Wiersbe put it, when God puts His own people into the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat.

Scripture is full of God’s appointed lengths of time. He told Abraham his descendants would be afflicted four hundred years before He delivered them:

Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.” —Genesis 15:13 (NKJV)

And He told Jeremiah the exile would last seventy years:

For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. —Jeremiah 29:10 (NKJV)

God’s timetable rarely coincides with ours, but even when deliverance seems slow, it is never delayed. Our trials are temporary.

Trials Come in Different Types

Verse 6 again: “grieved by various trials.” Peter’s first readers were suffering persecution for their faith, but Scripture shows many other kinds of trial—and just as the trials vary, so do the right responses. There’s no one-size-fits-all prescription, because even an identical trial carries different nuances from person to person. In Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, Tim Keller identifies four kinds of suffering the Bible speaks of.

Suffering we bring on ourselves—Keller points to Jonah and David. Jonah’s hardened heart toward Nineveh brought a storm and, later, a scorching wind that took his shade (Jonah 1; 4); David’s sin with Bathsheba brought suffering into his family (2 Samuel 11–12). In both, God sent suffering to bring them back to repentance. But note carefully: God was not punishing them—and He does not punish you for your sin.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. —Romans 8:1 (NKJV)

The cup of wrath we deserved was already paid in full by Jesus. This is not punishment; it’s loving, restorative discipline.

For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. —Hebrews 12:6 (NKJV)

This kind of suffering calls for repentance.

Suffering of betrayal—Jeremiah, thrown into a cistern for faithfully preaching (Jeremiah 38), and Paul, who was stoned, arrested, flogged, beaten, and shipwrecked (2 Corinthians 11). Each could have let resentment and bitterness take root. This kind of suffering calls for forgiveness.

Suffering of loss—the “universal” suffering everyone eventually faces, like Mary and Martha grieving their brother Lazarus (John 11). It has nothing to do with your behavior, good or bad. Here’s the key, and it’s worth writing down: when facing grief, Christians must learn to direct their minds and hearts to the various forms of comfort and hope their faith offers them. If you become a passenger on the “brain train,” letting your mind run wherever it wants, it will never lead you somewhere healthy—you have to take it captive and steer it toward God’s provision. That requires effort, which is part of why grief leaves you so tired. And God’s comfort comes in various forms: one rope of comfort may carry you a while and then slip from your hand—and in that moment you’ll find He’s holding out another.

Suffering of mystery—Job, whose suffering seemed senseless and wasn’t chastisement for a particular flaw. Yet it became a powerful vehicle for his growth and for God’s glory—a revelation about the whole orientation of his life and his need to rest fully on God. This kind of suffering calls for honest prayer, lament, and the hard work of deliberate trust. Augustine called what it produces a reordering of our loves.

Trials Serve a Purpose

Back to verse 6: “if need be.” In other words—if, from the vantage point of God’s omniscience, there’s something He can bring about for your good and His glory through suffering—then you have been grieved by various trials so that “the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold… may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

When God surveys all that is valuable in His creation—more valuable even than gold—what He prizes is the genuineness of your faith. And if your genuine faith is that valuable to Him, He is willing to do whatever is necessary to refine and purify it, so that on the day Christ returns, your faith is something celebrated in heaven.

God is the refiner, and that’s a comfort—He knows the temperature the fire needs, how long to leave the gold in, and the outcome He’s determined. As the goldsmith heats the gold, the metal itself isn’t destroyed; the impurities rise to the surface and are skimmed away. Mixed into our faith are all sorts of competing loves—comfort, power, pride, pleasure, self. The fire of affliction makes plain what was never really that important, and reveals what truly matters. Like fire on gold, suffering can purify and strengthen—or not. It depends on your response. So Peter calls his readers not to be shocked by suffering, not to give up hope, but to commit themselves to their faithful Creator:

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. —1 Peter 5:6–11 (NKJV)

Humble yourself under His hand—not because He wants to break you, but because He wants to exalt you to a place you’d never reach on your own. Cast your care on Him. Stay sober and vigilant, because if you don’t take your thoughts captive, the enemy will take over your thinking and lead you away from God. Resist him, standing firm in the faith—knowing the doctrine, knowing who God is and what He’s capable of producing in your life. The outcome God has in mind is that, after you’ve suffered “a while,” He will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

So What Is God Refining in You?

Four truths: we rejoice in our salvation, not in our suffering; trials are temporary; trials come in different types and call for different responses; and trials serve a purpose. If you’re enduring a trial, it isn’t inappropriate to ask, “God, what is there in me that’s not like Jesus? What habits or hangups are being drawn out of this refiner’s fire that I need to turn over to You?”

And here is our greatest comfort: Jesus Himself suffered the worst suffering possible on the cross so that we wouldn’t have to. He can empathize with us today because He’s acquainted with our suffering. That’s what the Lord’s Supper invites us to remember:

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” —1 Corinthians 11:23–25 (NKJV)

The suffering Jesus endured on the cross is the very means by which we have living hope—hope that our suffering is temporary, and that God can use it to accomplish something for our good. He is an all-capable Goldsmith who knows exactly how to refine the gold, and the expert Potter who knows just where to press and shape to form us into the image of Christ.

Scripture references in this message: 1 Peter 1:6–7; Philippians 3:12; 1 Peter 1:3–5; John 3:3; Matthew 26:38; Revelation 21:4; Lamentations 3:22–23; 2 Corinthians 12:7–9; Genesis 15:13; Jeremiah 29:10; Jonah 1; 4; 2 Samuel 11–12; Romans 8:1; Hebrews 12:6; Jeremiah 38; 2 Corinthians 11; John 11; Job; 1 Peter 5:6–11; 1 Corinthians 11:23–25. (NKJV)

Want to go deeper? Join us as we continue our journey through 1 Peter at Berea First Baptist Church.

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