“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Pet. 5:10-11
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Rom. 8:18
This last weekend was the 4th of July…a time of celebration and time of remembering our God’s provision of this nation 249 years ago. But as we all know tragedy struck in the hill country and the devastation continues to be revealed and will be for days to come. Over 81 deaths so far and up to 41 still missing. The hope and prayer is that many will still be found. So pray for the families who have lost. Pray for the families still waiting to hear. Pray for the young girls traumatized by this event. Pray for the 1st Responders who are working around the clock still in rescue mode. Pray for the churches in the area and beyond who seek to comfort the people right where they are…for the severe providence of the Lord has come and we pray that people will rest more and more in Him.
The above passages are only two passages of the weariness-validating, heart-encouraging voice of the Scriptures. So we begin this Monday with these Scriptures, from Peter and Paul, about the how the normalcy of sufferings we experience, are quite timely. We have to constantly be reminded of the fact that this is one of the many things that define a Christian in this fallen world…suffering… as Peter says in the second chapter, “For to this you have been called (to suffer), because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps.” I Peter 2:21
Now both of these men were quite familiar with suffering; and both were even more familiar with God’s sovereign might and continuous grace. Have you ever thought of the connection between our suffering and our gaining fuller knowledge of God’s sovereignty and grace? Now to a certain degree, everything and everyone is broken in this life. So to suffer is to be human; but to suffer well is to be His child filled with His Holy Spirit.
Remember…the Day of no more “death, mourning, crying, or pain” is coming (Rev. 21:4); but it is NOT THIS DAY. Until that Day, there is the Godhead, and all the grace we’ll need when we ache so that we can still bring God glory in our affliction…our grief…even our repentant sin.
In the “bigger picture”, as Peter implies, all suffering is just for a “little while.” When life hurts the most, it reminds us that He is the “God of all grace”—the one who has called us to “eternal glory.” He is the One who will, indeed, “restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish” us. Maybe not today…but that Day will come. We need to be making His Word more real than our pain, while we can, His grace more substantive than our sufferings, while we can, and His presence more defining that our aches. We need to see…hear…and know Jesus in the midst of our good times so that we are ready to do the same in our sufferings.
When you pray, pray that God will free us and the believers in the hill country to believe “the glory that will be revealed in us.” When Jesus returns, the weight of our sufferings will be gone forever. Now that is something to look forward to…to prepare for…to long for. But until that Day, also pray that God will grant us and them grace to steward our sufferings as a gift that we might grow in our need for Him and our compassion for others.
One more passage in conclusion: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Rom. 5:1-5)
I am praying today for those who are hurting and I pray you are as well.
God Bless.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
