My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials…-James 1:2

The lapidary, if he takes up a stone and finds that it is not very precious, will not spend much care in cutting it; but when he gets a rare diamond of the first water, then he will be sure to cut, and cut, and cut again. When the Lord finds a saint whom He loves-loves much-He may spare other men trials and troubles, but He certainly will not this well-beloved one. It is an awful thing to be a favourite of heaven. It is a thing to be sought after and to be rejoiced in; but remember, to be of the King’s council-chamber is a thing involving such work for faith that flesh and blood might shrink from the painful blessing. The gardener gets a tree, and if it is but of a poor sort he will let it grow as it wills, and take what fruit comes from it naturally; but if it be of a very rare sort, he likes to have every bough in its proper place, so that it may bear well; and he often takes out his knife an cuts here and there, because, says he, “That is a favourite tree, and it is one which bears such fruit that I would have much from it, and would leave nothing whatever that would cause it detriment.” You who are God’s favourites must not marvel at trials, but rather keep your door wide open for them, and when they come in, say, “Hail, messenger of the King! the sound of thy Master’s feet is behind thee; thou art welcome here, for thy Master sent thee.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0585.cfm

He said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep…And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. -John 11:11,43

Let us notice that the deliverance which Christ wrought by the resurrection of Lazarus, was calculated also to strengthen the faith of the apostles. At the worst Christ can work. Why, what a plight were they now in! Here was a case which had come to the very worst. Lazarus is not merely dead-he has been buried; the stone has been rolled to the mouth of the sepulchre-worse than that, he had become putrid. Here are miracles so many, that I must describe the resurrection of Lazarus not as one miracle, but as a mass of wonders. We will not go into detail, but suffice it to say, we cannot suppose anything to be a more prodigious exhibition of the divine strength, than the restoration of health and life to a body through which the worms did creep and crawl; and yet in the very worst case Christ is not brought to a nonplus. Here was a case where human power evidently could do nothing. Now bring the viol and the harp, and let music try its charms. Bring here, physician, thy most potent draught, now, for the true aqua vitoe! Now see what thou canst do. What! does the elixir fail? The physician turns away disgusted, for the stench may sooner destroy the physician’s life, than he restore the corpse. Now, seek ye round the world and ask all men that are-Herod and his men-at-arms, and Caesar on the imperial throne-“Can you do anything here?” Nay, Death sits with ghastly smile laughing at them all. “I have Lazarus,” says he, “beyond your reach.” Yet Jesus Christ wins the day.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0585.cfm

In which you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold trials: -1 Peter 1:6

It may be asked, what is the method by which trial strengthens faith? We might answer in various ways. Trial takes away many of the impediments of faith. Carnal security is the worst foe to confidence in God. If I sit down and say, “Soul, take thine ease, thou hast much goods laid up for many years;” faith’s road is barricaded, but adversity sets the barn on a blaze, and “the much goods laid up for many years,” cease to block up the path of faith. Oh, blessed axe of sorrow, which clears a pathway for me to my God by cutting down the thick trees of my earthly comforts! When I say, “My mountain standeth firm, I shall never be moved,” the visible fortification, rather than the invisible protector, engages my attention; but when the great earthquake shakes the rocks, and the mountain is swallowed up, I fly to the immovable Rock of Ages to build my confidence on high. Worldly ease is a great foe to faith; it loosens the joints of holy valour, and snaps the sinews of scared courage. The balloon never rises until the cords are cut: affliction doth this sharp service for believing souls. While the wheat sleeps comfortable in the husk it is useless to man, it must be threshed out of its resting-place before its value can be known. Trial plucks the arrow of faith from the repose of the quiver, and shoots it against the foe.

…trial is of special service to faith when it drives her to her God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0585.cfm

Thus saith the Lord, by the mouth of the prophet,

I will also leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. -Zephaniah 3:12

Now, why afflicted and poor? Because there is an adaptation in the afflicted and poor among the Lord’s people, to trust in the Lord. He does not say, “I will leave in the midst of thee a prosperous and rich people, and they shall trust.” No! these scarcely seem to have such capacity for faith as the afflicted ones have. Rather, “I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people,” and they, by reason of their very affliction and poverty, shall be the more graciously disposed to repose their faith in the Lord. Untried faith is always small in stature; and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. There is no room in the placid pools of ease for faith to gain leviathan proportions, she must dwell in the stormy sea if she would be one of the chief of the ways of God. Tried faith brings experience; and every one of you who are men and women of experience, must know that experience makes religion become more real to you. You never know either the bitterness of sin or the sweetness of pardon, till you have felt both. You never know your own weakness till you have been compelled to go through the rivers, and you would never have known God’s strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods. All the talk about religion which is not based upon an experience of it is mere talk. If we have little experience, we cannot speak so positively as those can whose experience has been more deep and profound. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0585.cfm

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer various trials, so that the authenticity of your faith…may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. -1 Peter 1:6-7

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith. I believe in the existence of faith in men who have no trials, but that is as far as I can go. I am persuaded, brethren, that where there is no trial faith just draws breath enough to live, but that is all; for faith, like the fabled salamander, has fire for its native element. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are trainers, and the lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds come howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, yet it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars so bright as those which glisten in the polar sky; no water so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0585.cfm