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1 Peter 1
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

1 Peter 4
12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

We need to realize that grief and suffering are a normal/natural part of the human experience.

In John 16:33, as Jesus was telling His followers about what the future held, he said: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Notice that Jesus didn't say:

• You may have trouble.
• You might have trouble.
• You could have trouble.

He said that you will have trouble.
It's a given that we'll face sorrow, grief, and hurt.
It's a given that we'll suffer in this life, some more than others.

An yet, somehow, just knowing that suffering is a natural part of our lives doesn't answer the question….Why Does God Allow Suffering?

Amazingly, our text in I Peter actually tells us that suffering/grief is good for us!

No one wants to suffer.
No one wants to hurt.
No one wants to feel waves of grief.

We live in a world today where people push their bodies to the limit for a natural or physical cause. I recently heard of a paraplegic climbing several major mountains. The physical endurance, stamina and conditioning required for such a venture qualifies them for "the maximum test".

Is it possible that many of the trials of life are what prepare you and I for the ultimate struggles of life and ensuing triumphs.

Let me share with you 4 people that endured "The Maximum Test":

1. ABRAHAM - The Maximum Test of Loyalty

Genesis 11
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

Genesis 12
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Because of Sarah's barrenness they took matters into their own hands to produce an heir for all the families of the earth to be blessed. Ishmael was born.

Genesis 17
15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

Abraham had been test with:

All of these mini-trials prepared Abraham for "The Maximum Test"

Genesis 22
1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." NIV

Story in Genesis 22 of Abraham's Sacrifice of Isaac

Genesis 22
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

2. JOB - The Maximum Test of Family

The story and experience of Job taken from the oldest book of the Bible stands as a classic example of "The Maximum Test".

In one day of Job's losses, Job goes from being the "greatest of all the men of the east" to that of a bankrupt man losing 10 children and a discouraged distraught wife on his hands whose only assessment of the situation is for Job to curse God and die.

Consider the first day's losses:

7,000 sheep
3,000 camels
500 yoke of oxen - 1000 ox
500 female donkeys
A very great household
7 Sons and 3 Daughters

Job's response at the end of Day #1 of "The Maximum Test":

Job 1
20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Job's 2nd Day of Testing:

Job 2
7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

Job's response at the end of Day #2 of "The Maximum Test":

Job 2
9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

3. HOSEA - The Maximum Test of Love

The Book of Hosea

Hosea 1
2 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.
4 And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel.
6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
8 Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

NOTICE:

Hosea 3
Hosea's Reconciliation With His Wife

1 The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels [1] of silver and about a homer and a lethek [2] of barley. 3 Then I told her, "You are to live with [3] me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with [4] you."
4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.

Hosea 11
1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
2 As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.

4. THE 3 HEBREW CHILDREN - The Maximum Test of Worship

Daniel 1
6 Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:
7 Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto
Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to
Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to
Mishael, of Meshach; and to
Azariah, of Abednego.

8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Daniel 3 - Story of 3 Hebrew Children & The Fiery Furnace
Daniel 3
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.

Daniel Morgan commanded a unit called Morgan's Raiders during the Revolutionary War. He was on the colonist's side. It was his strategy that led to the turning point in the war at the Battle of Saratoga. Morgan told his riflemen, "Forget the poor fellows who fight for six pence a day. Concentrate your fire on the officers. In fact, try your best to hit their epaulets that officers wear on their shoulders." As a result of Morgan's orders, British General Burgoine's officer ranks were so depleted that he surrendered at Saratoga.

Well, Morgan's strategy is still the way to win a battle. When Jesus walked the earth, He knew all too well the fierceness of Satan's power-that he comes with every weapon in hell to sift the Lord's people. He has been doing this from ancient times, when Job was severely put to the test. I don't think any of us can comprehend the great conflict right now that exists in the spirit realm.

The cocoon of the Emperor moth is flask like in shape. To develop into a perfect insect, it must force its way through the neck of the cocoon by hours of intense struggle. Entomologists explain that this pressure to which the moth is subjected is nature's way of forcing a life giving substance into its wings. Wanting to lesson the seemingly needless trials and struggles of the moth, an observer said, "I'll lesson the pain and struggles of this helpless creature!" With small scissors he snipped the restraining threads to make the moth's emergence painless and effortless. The creature never developed wings. For a brief time before its death it simply crawled instead of flying through the air on rainbow colored wings! (By the way.....the struggles of childbirth...i.e., the child squeezing through the birth canal are also a God designed way of forcing liquid out of the newborn's lungs.)Sorrow, suffering, trials, and tribulations are wisely designed to grow us into Christ-likeness. The refining and developing processes are oftentimes slow, but through grace, we emerge triumphant.