More Precious Than Gold
Eustace Scrubb is the type of character that we can all scoff at at one time or another, thinking what a spoiled brat he is, but if we look a little closer we can see that we all have a little Eustace in us. At one point in Lewis’s book, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace actually becomes the ugly beast he represents—he turns into a dragon. What happens next is too good to paraphrase-
“Then the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke – ‘You will have to let me undress you.’ I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away….Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off ... And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again…"
Sometimes trials and uncomfortable circumstances can feel a little like being descaled. Although trials are not necessarily a result of sin, like Eustace’s were, his process of “descaling” is a sweet metaphor for how the Lord works new life in all of us, peeling away sin and making us more like Christ, through all of our trials. Even when we find ourselves in hard circumstances through no fault of our own, God still uses them to reveal idols, sin, and hinderances to our walk with him. In the moment, this can leave us feeling raw and vulnerable, but His purpose is to make us new creations, to continue the work He has begun in us (Philippians 1:6). God’s good purposes in our trials are seen clearly in 1 Peter 1:3-8:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Peter says that we rejoice in various trials so that our faith would be tested, genuine, and would in the end result in “praise and glory and honor” when Jesus returns. We might want to reply, “Really, Peter? You want me to rejoice? You must not know what I am going through.” But Peter is not alone. James 1:2-4 goes so far as to say “count it all joy…when you meet trials of various kinds.”
So why do Peter and James have this seemingly bizarre perspective on suffering? The reason is that God is working in us through our trials. He is growing us in steadfastness and faith. His plans to make us complete—in James’s words, “lacking in nothing.” There is a future orientation here. When will we lack nothing? When will our faith result in the praise, honor, and glory of Jesus Christ? The day when we obtain the outcome of our faith, which will be when we meet Jesus face to face. Peter’s perspective is eternal. We rejoice because no matter what we face in our short days on earth, the result of our lives is eternity with our Lord. In the meantime, Peter says, God is producing greater faith in us, and he will use our humble lives for His glory, even and maybe especially, as we walk through deep valleys.
Notice what else Peter says here. These trials produce more than mere “faith.” Peter describes it as a “faith more precious than gold.” Through trials, God is working in us a deeper faith, a refined faith — something more valuable than any riches. This refined faith guards us until we reach the inheritance kept for us. Through trials, God strengthens our faith so that we persevere to the end. God-given, trial-produced faith is the means to keep going until we reach the glory of our eternal inheritance. Do you see the incredible beauty here? Where we see only ashes, pain, and dark days, God is doing something beautiful, for our good and His glory. We see this most clearly in the Gospel. Our Jesus was mocked, crucified, and laid in a tomb. He died an excruciating and humiliating death on a cross. The whole world went dark. But then on the third day he arose, victorious over sin, Satan, and death. Out of a seemingly dark and hopeless scenario, God brought about victory and the redemption of His people.
God redeems our stories, too. When we feel that we are often wandering, walking through dark days, God is working in us a faith that points us to Heaven. Even if we never see a resolution to our trials on this side of heaven, we know that our greatest need has been met. We have been redeemed from our sin, reconciled to God, and promised an eternal inheritance. Every time we sing “Christ our Hope in Life and Death,” we proclaim this glorious reality as a church: God “sends the waves that bring us nigh unto the shore, the rock of Christ.” God’s sovereign power works in the midst of the waves to draw us deeper. In trials we see more clearly how fickle we are and how steady and unchanging our God is. We see how temporal this world is and recall the everlasting and eternal city we will one day enter.
The raw ache of peeling back the scales is painful. The sanctifying work done in the midst of suffering is never easy. We can feel a little bit like Eustace—the pain can be some of the worst we have ever felt. But pain does not have the final say. We will experience the sweetness. God’s promise to makes our faith more precious than gold will never fail. He will cause us to persevere to the end. Our ever-strengthening faith will one day turn into sight when we see Jesus face to face in glory, forevermore. So let us take a page from Peter’s book and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing deep in our bones that the result will always be glorious. And one day soon, dear sister, we will be in the presence of our all-glorious and all-satisfying God. It will all feel light and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory we will experience in His presence (1 Peter 5:10).
“Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off ... And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again.”
All glory be to Christ!