And the God of all grace …., after you have suffered a while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you

The words suffer, sufferings or suffered appear 13 times in 1 Peter. And this is not to mention related issues such as “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you” (1 Peter 4:12). And the admonition not to think it strange, is needed, at least in my life. We have this tendency to think that life owes it to us to go smoothly, and to be without problems. Perhaps I’m just talking about me, but when we think this way, we are fooling ourselves.

The Scripture says that the rain falls on the just and the unjust, and we will suffer whether we are Christians are not. The difference is that we have access to the God of all grace, and to His promises. The verse at the title of this post (1 Peter 5:10) is one of them. It’s a promise worth meditating on.

I like the phrase “will Himself.” in particular He does not leave us to suffer alone. He suffers not only for us, but He also suffers with us. And in Christ, our suffering is not in vain! In particular when we cooperate with Him, then he uses our suffering to make us more like Himself. In particular He will perfect and establish and strengthen us.

He will also settle us. I experience this over and over, as I come to Him morning by morning. In particular I am not always at peace when I wake up. I have discovered however, that if I am willing to wait before Him, He will always, by His grace settle me, and bring me back into peace. And He does this no matter what is going on in my life!

Father, thank You for Your grace, and the amazing tools and promises that You have given us in Your Word that allow us to live the life You call us to live. Thank you for reminding me over and over, that I cannot do this without You. Thank You for Your peace, thank You for Your grace, thank You for your love. In Jesus Name Amen