You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy. - 1 Peter 1:8
As my husband and I minister, hardly a day goes by without our hearing someone say, “Why me, why now, why this? Why was my daughter maimed in an accident? Why was my sister left with four small children to raise? Why was my husband laid off—again?”
Peter was writing to believers who were “living as foreigners” in other lands (1 Peter 1:1). He told these believers not to be surprised by the troubles and trials that they were experiencing for following Christ. These people had never even seen Jesus. Yet they saw him with eyes of faith. For some people, seeing is believing. Thomas, Jesus’ disciple, was like that. Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me and believe anyway” (John 20:29). In other words, believing is seeing! So Peter wrote, “You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy” (1 Peter 1:8).
Are you finding it difficult to be full of joy when life is full of hurt? Does God seem far away? Peter reminds us to trust God, even though we cannot see him or even see him working. Rejoicing with inexpressible joy can be our experience, too. Joy even in trouble is part and parcel of the wonderful salvation Christ wants us to enjoy. “[Our] reward for trusting him [is] the salvation of [our] souls” (1 Peter 1:9). Now that’s joy we can enjoy!
For Further Study: 1 Peter 1:1-25
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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