God will deliver us now and forever.
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.
I am so blessed, I didn't do anything to get eternal life, not a thing, it was taken care of for me because of "God's great mercy," (verse 3) his son Jesus was sent to die and be raised from the dead so that I can have eternal life.
Because of what Jesus did for me, I have a bright future, and that future goes far beyond the limits of this temporary assignment here on planet earth. I have a future that is full of hope, hope that the government cannot give me, and hope that my friends and family cannot give to me. My hope is in the blessings of an eternal inheritance, a priceless inheritance (verse 4), how could any value be placed on being in the presence of God for eternity?
It is just human nature to want to be comfortable and to have the easy life and it is hard to accept that the trials that we despise help to increase our faith, if my faith wasn't put to the test then my faith wouldn't be much. And if it were always bottled up inside of me, then my faith can not be seen by others, It can only be seen by others when it is exercised and when it is exercised then the rest of the world can see it. My future with God for eternity looks better and better every day with every trial that comes my way.
It is difficult to be truly glad and to think about the wonderful joy that is ahead (verse 6) but we have to realize that this life will quickly end (verse 23) and our new life will last forever.
Lord you have blessed me so much, help me to be thankful through the hard times and remind me of the hope that I have in you. Increase my faith and help me to put it into action so that the rest of the world can see it.
Romans 15:13 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
