This month at MomStrong International, we’ve been studying the topic of joy… but what happens when we’re walking through suffering? 1 Peter talks about suffering proportionately more than any other book in the Bible. In the passage we’ve been looking at, he draws on an illustration from Isaiah 43. Today, I will be teaching on the metaphor of the fire—but looking more closely at the “refiners” fire and the promise that comes with it. If you’re struggling to understand a purpose for your pain, listen in and be encouraged!
Mentioned in Podcast
Walking With God through Pain and Suffering, by Tim Keller
Scriptures
1 Peter:3-7
Isaiah 43:1-3
1 Peter 4:19
1 Peter 5:10
2 Corinthians 6:8-10
Jeremiah 29:13
Ephesians 1:18-20
TRANSCRIBED PODCAST BELOW
Hey everybody, welcome to The Heidi St. John Podcast! Today is Wednesday the 26th of December. It’s MomStrong International study day, and I hope that you guys will enjoy it.
Also, I hope you had a fantastic Christmas! We’re going to talk a little bit about what it means to walk with God in every season of our life, and how God uses suffering to make us more like Him.
Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged.
All right. So we are on the last week of the MomStrong International study for the whole year – for the year 2018. I hope you guys have been blessed by what God is doing at MomStrong International. We started this particular ministry to mothers, this time last year was when we turned out our first Bible Study. We’ve grown since then quite a bit. We have over 10,000 members now at the Scripture Writing community. And I just want to say- thank you so much for being a part of what God is doing at MomStrong International.
Before I jump into this study I want to let you guys know I’m going to be traveling here pretty quickly and I want to invite you to join me at a MomStrong Conference near you. So I’m going to be in Abilene, Texas. Woot woot! Can I just get a shout out for my friends in Abilene?!
I’m coming down to Abilene on the 19th of January. That’s just a couple weeks away and tickets are on sale for that event right now, so I want to just encourage you to bring a friend to that I’m telling you what — this conference is one day event is going to change the way you see your role in this generation and how God wants to use you.
The theme this year is Miracle Worker – The Life Changing Power of Following Jesus, and we’re going to spend a whole day digging into the word, talking together, going to eat together. It’s going to be a wonderful time! So if you’re anywhere near Abilene -can I just encourage you grab your women’s Bible Study Group, grab your mother, your mom in-law, or your sister in law, or your cousin, or your best friend and come on out to the Heidi St. John conference. I promise you it’s going to be a day that will change your life.
The next event I’m doing will be in Coos Bay, Oregon and tickets are on sale for that right now as well. That event is happening the very next weekend on the 26th of January. So come on out you guys! I can’t wait to see you and cannot wait to see what God does with you, and through you, as we study His word together.
This was part of, coming off of MomStrong International which was founded on the heels of the book Becoming MomStrong – which by the way, that book was written with the intention of launching a movement of mothers who said – you know what? I’m going to get off the bench, and back onto the battlefield, and recognizing that God has literally created you for such a time as this.
You were born for this women, you were born for this right now. God knew what was going to be happening in the culture in 2018 and 2019, and he chose to put you and I in this time of history, right now, to speak to the GLORY, and the MERCY, and the HEALING, and the GRACE of the Lord Jesus. And that’s really what we want to do at MomStrong International. So if you’re interested in studying the Bible with us I want to just encourage you to do that. You can become a member -it’s just two dollars a week and your two dollars goes a whole long way in supporting this ministry. I am really excited about what we’re going to be doing for 2019!
So the whole year studies have already been laid out. But for this particular month, for the month of January, we’re going to be studying what it means to Find Balance and Breathe – because when we understand and embrace God’s priorities, we can find balance. We can find that white space in our life, and we can enjoy what God has put in front of us.
So I want to just encourage you to do that for the month of January going to be studying starting the year off with a bang. Talking about God’s priorities and what it means to be committed to walking in right relationship with Him. And for today, I’m going to be finishing up the last week of this study.
As always, on Wednesday’s, I’m trying to give you a glimpse into the study, but the study itself is going to go a whole lot farther.
Your church can do it – by the way we’ve just started granting church licenses. So if your church is interested in having a ministry to women that is going to genuinely point them back to the Word — I’m not interested in writing Women’s Bible stories where we just sit around and talk about what a hot mess we are. God did not send His Son into the world so that we could stand around in circles sing Kumbaya, talk about what a hot mess we are, and go home and repeat the same thing over again.
God wants us to grow. The gospel changes Us. It should change us. The message of the Cross never leaves us where it finds us. And that really is the heart at MomStrong International. So if you haven’t found us there yet – or you’re looking for a ministry for your church for 2019 – we have an incredible opportunity for you for just two dollars a week to get into and study the Word with us.
All right. We are in 1 Peter 1:3-4 and then we’re to skip over to vs 6 and 7. I’m going to read it for you really quickly and then we’ll talk about what it means for you right now.
So this is 1 Peter 1: 3-4, 6-7
3 According to his great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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.
1 Peter talks a lot about suffering, and in fact – it talks about it proportionately more than any other book in the Bible. So in this passage that we’re looking at, Peter is actually drawing on an illustration from Isaiah 43. So let’s go ahead and look at that really quickly. Isaiah 43. So here’s what it says. I’m going to read it first for you in the NIV.
But now, this is what the Lord says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
Isaiah 43: 1-3
So this is a beautiful illustration of God’s love for you, and Peter’s going to take – because what is God promising His people right there? He is promising us that no matter what happens to us He is going to be with us.
He will never leave us alone. Even though we pass through the fire,- Isaiah is saying -you’re not going to be burned up. God is with you. He’s the Holy One of Israel. He loves you, men and women, He loves you. And Peter is going to take the metaphor of a fire one step further and compare it to the suffering of his readers or to that ever refiners fire like a furnace or a forge.
So the Greek word for trials refers to an attempt to learn the nature or character of something, a test. A furnace turns up the heat on precious metal and melts it down so that the impurities are destroyed or removed. So in a sense, the fire tries to destroy the metal put to the fire, but only succeeds in making it more pure and more beautiful. In one sense you could say that God only allows suffering to go far enough to accomplish the exact opposite of what it intends.
I going to say that for you again because I want you to get this deep down in your heart. All right?
You could say that God only allows suffering to go far enough to accomplish the exact opposite of what it intends. You see, we have many impurities in our character that need to be removed for us to experience the joy and confidence of Christ.
You guys see that in your children? Sure you do! And you know that as you discipline them they are going to become more and more tolerable to be around. Why? Because we are helping them to get rid of the impurities in their character so that they can walk in right relationship with the Lord and with other people. And you see, we have competing commitments in our hearts. We want to follow the Lord but our sinful hearts want comfort and ease.
We want to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit, but instead, our hearts tend to be filled with pride, and lust, and selfishness.
You see the problem is we’re usually blind to these things. Although my spouse usually isn’t ;). It’s like dirt that’s buried inside a gold nugget, right?
But think about this. A furnace doesn’t make things better automatically. It depends on what’s put in the furnace and how it’s handled by the refiner – and in the same way, our response to suffering will determine how well the refining will work. So Peter is going on to encourage his readers not to be upset or shocked by suffering and not to give up hope. Instead in 1 Peter 4:19 he says – commit yourself to the faithful creator and continue to do good.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I’ve been going through a difficult time – I can stop seeking to do good – because I’m so consumed with my own situation, and with self-pity, and expectation that others should be doing good works for me…that I can take my eyes off of the Lord. But Peter says that one of the ways out of a rut like this is simply to look for ways to do good for others.
And did you know what else? This is a great thing to teach your kids, you guys. This comes with a promise. 1 Peter 5:10:
10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
That is God’s promise to you. He’s saying: listen, this isn’t all there is after you’ve suffered for a little bit. I, the God of Heaven, the Lord of Heaven’s armies, the God of all Grace who is called you.
Remember I told you earlier Mom, you were born for this! You are born for such a time as this. He Himself is going to restore, and confirm, and strengthen, and establish you. You see, God’s not going to leave us to face the fire alone. You see, Jesus took the fire of God’s wrath not so that we could escape the flames — but so that He would be with us in the furnace.
That’s God’s heart for you. And there is a great paradox of our walk with Christ that Peter talks about here. See, the paradox is this – we can experience an abundance of joy in the midst of suffering and trials. So whatever you’re facing today know this – you can experience joy right in the midst of it. Remember, we talked about this last week?
Joy is not a product of your circumstances. Joy isn’t dependent on how many gifts you got for Christmas. It isn’t. Joy is not dependent on whether or not you’re completely healthy or how full your bank account is.
Joy is the unmistakable sign of the presence of God in our lives.
It’s not dependent on our circumstances. And as Christians we live in attention, right? We can be full of sorrow and full of joy at the same time.
For those of you who have ever had a baby – you know what I’m talking about. right?
That suffering, that struggle that we are experiencing as we’re preparing to birth a child — absolutely pales the moment you see that child, right? And we become full of joy.
In 2 Corinthians 6:8-10 Paul describes his experience as an apostle. But guess what? — he describes it with this sort of diametric reality thing going on. In verse 10. He says we’re sorrowful but we’re always rejoicing. Peter is saying the same truth when he says
in this you rejoice though now you’ve been grieved by various trials.
1 Peter 1:6
Can you guys see how amazing that is? He doesn’t say you used to rejoice in Christ but now your suffering. He doesn’t say you can either rejoice or you can be grieved. He doesn’t say you’re grieving now but later you can rejoice. He says you can grieve AND rejoice.
And unlike some of the preachers that you hear on television right now, this isn’t the power of positive thinking. We’re not simply chipper. We don’t minimize suffering in a superficial way. We don’t offer religiously-hype-self-help.
It’s not the absence of a feeling – it’s the presence of God.
And the joy of God that accompanies it, in the middle of the trials – Tim Keller summed it up this way. He said:
This is a difficult concept for modern Western people, since we think our feelings as almost holy, sovereign things.
Tim Keller, Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering
Have you guys noticed that in the culture? We are literally surrounded by young people who are being driven by their emotions, and we are so afraid of offending because we hold our emotions and our feelings in an incredibly high regard right now. We look at them as – Tim Keller’s absolute right – as almost holy, sovereign things, our feelings.
Tim went on to say:
We either feel happier or we don’t, and, we think, we can’t force our feelings. And that’s right; we must not deny or try to create feelings. But we must remember that in the Bible, the “heart” is not identical to emotions. The heart is understood as the place of your deepest commitments, trusts, and hopes. From those commitments flow our emotions, thoughts, and actions.
Tim Keller, Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering
So Tim goes on to say:
… therefore we must not define rejoicing as something that precludes feelings of grief, or doubt, weakness, and pain. Rejoicing in suffering happens within sorrow. Here’s how it works. The grief and sorrow drive you more and more into God.
The weeping drives you into joy, it enhances the joy, and the joy enables you to actually feel your grief without it sinking you. In other words, you are finally emotionally healthy.
Tim Keller, Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering
That’s from Tim Keller’s book. I’ll link back to it in the show notes us today, Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering.
Moms, I want to encourage you as we get ready to enter into a new year – to give yourself fully to the Lord who suffered on your behalf. Commit to Him. Cry to Him. Trust Him. Walk with Him through the fire and see the beauty and the power He will draw out of you. That is His promise to you. God said: He will never leave you nor forsake you.
And the next time you feel like you don’t have any joy – can I just encourage you? Pray about it. Ask the Lord to give you His joy. Ask Him to show you what you are looking to instead of Him. Ask him to search your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13 says that if you seek Him with all your heart, He will let you find Him.
13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13
He wants you to seek Him and He will always come through. Life is a journey, isn’t it? It has its ups and downs, good days, bad days, homeschool days – simultaneously joy and sadness – but life’s a journey, isn’t it? But the Lord wants to use it all to bring you joy if you let Him. Seek Jesus, and Jesus alone. Let’s pray.
Father, I’m praying through Ephesians 1:18-20 right now. I pray that the eyes of my heart and the eyes of my children’s hearts would be enlightened – so that we would truly know the hope of Your calling. Father, we’re desperate for us to understand the riches of your glory, and if your inheritance in us, and to walk these out daily as a family.
Lord, I feel as though my walk with you and my daily joy would be so vastly different if I had the surpassing greatness of Your power toward us believers in my mind. So Father, would you train my heart, train our hearts, as we train the hearts of our children – in spite of ourselves. Father, a great desires to be so grounded in an understanding of biblical joy that our children see your strength in us and are drawn to have a personal relationship with You themselves.
Train us up, Lord. Show us what it means to rest in your joy. In Jesus name, Amen.
I want to thank you guys for listening to the podcast today. if you’re interested in this study, we go much more in-depth over it MomStrong International. You can sign up today! The Scripture Writing challenge there is free, and you can find it at MomStrong International.com.
I also want to thank you for listening to this podcast. As always, I’m going to ask you to leave a review and rate this podcast over at iTunes. Help us get the word out by sharing this podcast with your friends and your relatives.
It is our hope to see an entire generation of Christian women come back to the authority and the trustworthiness of the Word of God. Thanks for listening everybody and I’ll see you back here on Friday.