Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. (1 Peter 4:12)
In a fallen and broken world filled with fallen and broken people, one thing is certain: everybody suffers. From the loss of a relationship, a job, or a loved one to the more mundane but no less real experiences of loneliness, disappointment, or unmet expectations, every heart is hurting in one way or another. The Scriptures are unflinching in their assertion that the Christian life comes with sorrow and difficulty.
After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you into his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10).
Peter wrote to encourage believers who were often in the midst of unbearable suffering, and this passage provides us with four action words that God in Christ promises to perform in the lives of all those who faithfully follow wherever He is leading us:
Restore – God will eventually restore whatever we have lost for the glory of God and the expansion of His kingdom.
Confirm – God will give us truths that transform our lives, and those truths can come to us in no other way other than through suffering.
Strengthen – God will strengthen our resolve to keep getting up every time we are knocked down, conforming us more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus.
Establish – God is building our lives on rock, not sand, and this can only happen through the storms of life.
God has promised suffering with no particular time limit or level of intensity attached to it. Suffering may not cease; in fact, it may continue to intensify until you cross the Jordan. But He has also promised to restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us for His glory and our ultimate good.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 