I’m a guy who likes joy. I like a good meal, a good laugh, a good day on the water. So you’d think a book about suffering would be the last thing I’d want to spend months preaching through. But I’ve come to love 1 Peter, because it answers a question every one of us eventually asks: how do you keep your faith, and even your joy, when life is falling apart?
Here’s something I’ve noticed after a lot of years in ministry. I have never heard anyone say, “The really deep lessons of my life came during the easy times.” But I’ve heard plenty of strong, seasoned believers say some version of, “Every real step I’ve taken deeper with God came through suffering.”
Joy and suffering turn out to be close relatives. Peter knew that.
The passage
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:12–13)
And he ends the paragraph this way:
Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (1 Peter 4:19)
Look at the commands packed in there: don’t be surprised, rejoice, don’t be ashamed, glorify God, entrust your soul, keep doing good. That’s a whole way of life in six short verses. It moves from knowing something true, to trusting God, to joy, to love, to God’s glory.
So here are six reasons to keep rejoicing, even when you’re walking through cancer, grief, rejection, loneliness, money trouble, depression, or addiction.
0. You are loved
Before the first reason, notice the first word: Beloved. Peter says everything that follows to people God loves. That’s not a throwaway greeting. If you don’t start there, the rest of the passage will sound like a coach yelling “toughen up.” It isn’t that. It’s a Father telling his kids the truth because he loves them.
1. It’s not a surprise. It’s a plan.
Peter says don’t be surprised, “as though something strange were happening to you.” It isn’t strange. It’s for your testing, and verse 19 says it’s “according to God’s will.”
That’s true even when someone else, or something darker, is the immediate cause. Nothing reaches you that hasn’t passed through the hands of a sovereign God. Suffering is a tool He uses to test, prove, and purify His people. It’s not random, and it’s not wasted.
I learned something about testing at a GoRuck event years ago. The event didn’t create our fitness. It revealed whether we’d actually trained. Trials work the same way. They reveal what’s really underneath.
2. It’s shared with Christ
“Rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings.” Some suffering is just the consequence of doing something dumb, and Peter is honest about that in verse 15. But when you suffer because you look like Jesus, because you said what He said or did what He did, you are standing right next to Him.
Here’s a little test. There are parts of Jesus’ teaching that make each of us uncomfortable, depending on where we sit. What He said about money. About marriage. About the stranger and the poor. About there being one way to the Father. If His words can poke church people, imagine how they land on people who aren’t trying to follow Him at all.
So if you take some heat for saying and doing what Jesus said and did, take it as evidence you’re on the right road and He’s on it with you.
3. It’s not forever
Rejoice now, Peter says, “that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” Joy in suffering now is practice for joy in glory later. Bitterness now is practice for something else.
Put simply: struggles aren’t forever. Christ’s glory is.
4. You don’t have to be ashamed
“If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name” (1 Peter 4:16). The world may treat following Jesus as embarrassing. Peter says wear the name with your head up.
5. God is purifying His people
Verse 17 says judgment “begins at the household of God.” That sounds frightening until you see what it means for believers. For God’s children, the fire refines. God hates sin and loves His kids too much to leave them in it. He will use pain to burn away what He hates.
6. You can hand your soul to a faithful Creator
This is where the passage lands. Not “grit your teeth.” Not “think positive.” Entrust your soul to a faithful Creator. The One who made you knows how you’re built and won’t let go of you. Then, with your soul in His hands, keep doing good.
What this looks like on a hard Tuesday
- Name the trial honestly. Don’t pretend. Peter doesn’t.
- Say the true things out loud. I’m loved. This isn’t random. Jesus is in this with me. It isn’t forever.
- Hand it over, again. Entrusting your soul is rarely a one-time thing.
- Do the next good thing. Make the meal. Make the call. Show up. Peter ties trust and doing good together.
- Don’t go it alone. Suffering is the lion’s favorite hunting ground, and it gets worse when you’re isolated.
Counting it all joy when you face trials sounds like foolish advice, except for one thing: Christ. Every one of these reasons runs through Him. When He’s in your life, even the fire looks different.