The Weekly Word # 9

“Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer.  Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine.  Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure.  Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed.”  (1 Peter 1:6-7)

In 1988 devastating fires roared through thousands of acres of Yellowstone National Park forming the largest wildfire in the recorded history of the park.  But scientists knew that fire was a necessary part of the cycle of life in a forest.  Life would not only go on, but would also benefit from the fire. 

The fires left large patches of cleared ground opened to the sun.  Seeds released from pinecones took root almost immediately.  Lodgepole pine seedlings began to grow at the rate of an inch or two per year.  Fireweed appeared in a matter of days after the fire had passed.  Wildflowers were abundant by the following spring, and the grasses and shrubs were a rich green.  Nutrients from the ash caused the vegetation to prosper.  Trees that didn’t fall became feeding grounds for insects, and the insects in turn attracted many woodpeckers.  The holes left by woodpeckers attracted many birds that used them for nests.  

“People must remember that the beauty of Yellowstone before the fires was actually the result of previous fires.” (Hardy-Short).

The Word of the Lord in 1 Peter assures us that the trials we suffer are to prove our faith is genuine.  Trials are never easy, are usually painful and like the fires in Yellowstone, seem to be destructive even to the point of annihilation of our faith.  But the Lord says that, in order to endure, our faith must be tested by fire.

If you are being tested, if you are undergoing stressful, painful, experiences, take courage.  The fires of testing tapping at your door will produce a genuine, enduring faith.

Pastor Bob McQuaid