Suffering Leads to Glory

 Greetings to  you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First Peter 5:7-11 says, “ Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.   Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.   To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

     Things were going great a couple of days ago and it was a good time, good expectations, happiness was in the air and then all of a sudden the bottom dropped out at about 4 in the afternoon.  Happiness went to sorrow in 3 seconds.  It was a lot to deal with and is not done yet but a lot of Biblical lessons were learned quickly and dependence upon God was in the forefront.

     The above passage is more lengthy than I normally use, but is necessary.  The lessons learned is first of all, to bring all of our cares to God and the reason is that He cares for us .  We are not left alone in this world to suffer without help.  He is always there.   Then, we see that Satan is alive and well upon Planet Earth as Hal Lindsey wrote about fifty years ago.  Satan wants to trip us up but we are to resist him by being steadfast in the faith.  Then we learn more about God’s amazing grace in that after we go through the suffering, God makes us perfect, or mature.  Our faith often gets tested and once we make it through to the other side, we are stamped as “approved” and go on to the  next trial.  That’s Christian growth.  It is often a tad painful but necessary to strengthen us for what is coming down the pike, so to speak.  It  then says that it “settles us.”  Do we need settling?  I would certainly say, ‘yes.”  When I have been in fits of crying or weeping uncontrollably, someone will often say, “settle down.”  What they mean is for me to stop with the tears and to think of what is at my disposal.  First of all, as a believer, I am a child of God and sometimes need to be reminded of that.  Then, I need to remember that God is not surprised about my circumstances and that He knows exactly what is go0ing on and that He certainly is the Almighty Resource that I need in order to settle down.  Then, I reflect on the fact that this world can do nothing to me to stand in the way of eternal glory with God, even if I were to be burned at the stake or beheaded, God forbid!  His resources are beyond description and what takes place in each day that turns us into putty is merely a small trial and someday, suffering will turn to glory.  Praise God today for the fact that He holds us in His hands at all times.