The Surprise of Suffering (Part Three)

This week we are looking at 1 Peter 5:9-10 and seeing some surprising things about suffering. Monday we saw the roots of that suffering, and the call to stand in resistance to our spiritual enemy and yesterday we looked at some realities that are attached to our experiences of suffering. Today we conclude by seeing:

The Results of Suffering (v.10b)

This is the rest of the surprise. See what the God of all grace Himself does through the suffering. In episodes of suffering it is extremely helpful to remember who He is really is. Who is He? One teacher netted out the person of our God this way:

• The God Who has saved us in Christ, the Fountain of infinite compassion, mercy, and goodness.
• The God Who is the most merciful and the most compassionate, who is an exuberant source of love and compassion to us.
• The God Who has riches of grace, an immense plenty of it in himself, has treasured up a fulness of grace in his Son;
• The God Who is the author of all the blessings of grace, of adopting, justifying, pardoning, and regenerating grace;
• The God Who is the giver of the graces of the Spirit, such as faith, hope, love, repentance,
• The God Who is the object of prayer, who encourages us to come to the throne of his grace, and pray, and hope for, and expect a sufficiency of his grace in every time of need.

That is the God who works on our behalf in the midst of suffering! And it is for a purpose—for God has as his gracious purpose bringing his children himself to share in his glory (cf. John 17:22, 24; Rom 8:30— “called … glorified”). God desires to accomplish much as a result of our suffering, and the four verbs used here emphatically promise God’s aid. KEY: All these words are read in the future tense by the best manuscripts—

• Spiritual Maturity- “perfect”- Put you in complete joint as the timbers of a building. It means “make complete” or “put in order.”
• Spiritual Confidence- “confirm”- Make you firm in every part; adapt you strongly to each other, so that you may be mutual supports, the whole building being one in the Lord, especially to “strengthen one so he can stand fast in persecution.”
• Spiritual Ability- “strengthen”- To bind every part, so that there shall be no danger of warping, splitting, or falling.
• Spiritual Stability- “establish”- To put on a firm foundation.

All these phrases are architectural—the apostle has again in view the fine image which he produced in 1 Peter  2:5, so that, taken together, they say something powerful—God Himself will, by His grace, cause all to rest so evenly and firmly upon the best and surest foundation, so that you may grow together to a holy temple in the Lord- in a word, that you may be…

complete in all the mind that was in Christ;

supported in all your trials and difficulties;

strengthened to resist and overcome all your enemies; and

after all abide, firmly founded, in the truth of His sustaining grace.

The implication is that these things cannot be accomplished any other way than by means of suffering! If there was any other way to produce these results in our lives, don’t you think the God of all grace, and wisdom, would implement them?

Though Satan would destroy, and people will bring pain and evil intent, the Word of God makes two profound promises to the suffering heart…

You are not alone in your hurt;

God can bring good out of the deepest pain.

Hard to believe? You bet it is—but that doesn’t make it any less true! Again, it is not a matter of emotion (especially when our emotions are battered and scarred). It is a matter of faith- trusting God that His ultimate good will overcome the present pain, hurt, and loss, and accomplish His good purposes in our lives. The surprise of our suffering is that God’s grace truly was sufficient and His love and healing were truly powerful, and that God’s love really can make life good again.