Our Apostle Peter throughout his letters teaches us that our God with all wisdom and power is exploiting suffering and evil to gain a glorious future. It is our privilege to fight in this spiritual battle for the glory of Christ and the advance of the Gospel.
Let’s all learn to do battle better. Making these three maneuvers while suffering will make all the difference: (1) free ourselves from self-concern; (2) resist the devil with faith; and (3) anticipate God’s restoration.
Free Ourselves from Self-Concern
1 Peter 5:6–7 ESV “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
There are many anxieties that result from living and believing and proclaiming in a hostile world. Promoting the exclusivity of Gospel leads to loss of status, respect, standing, friends, job, even life itself. We are to accept such things from God, from His wise counsel and trust Him in His purposes.
The basic urge is to exalt ourselves, to fight back when undergoing humiliation in this world. In His time, God will fight for us; and in His manner and place, He will exalt us both here and later. There will always be spiritual blessing for us along way; and real reward and honor coming too!
We are commanded, and invited to, cast our burdens, anxieties and fears upon Him who cares for us specially. This in itself is an expression of humility before God--to stop bearing our own burdens as if we can carry or handle them better, as if we can deal with them better than God.
Have you ever had to learn this? Wasn’t it a relief to learn this? Do you need to re-learn this? We can’t do a better job than God with our trials, burdens, sufferings. We don’t want to end up embittered or confused, saying “Where is God?!” or “What did I do to deserve this?!” We humble ourselves by exalting God.
Resist the Devil with Faith
1 Peter 5:8–9 ESV “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”
It begins with maintaining spiritual concentration, controlling our thinking and keeping a disciplined mental state. This clear-minded serious spirituality is very important in dealing with unjust suffering as Christians.
We will have to keep our heads clear from all sorts of worldly affections, passions, and reasonings in order to deal with the threats upon our lives and the good things God has provided us. We must be prepared to respond differently than the world expects, that is, with humility before God not fearing events, life, or people.
Our adversary, the devil, will try to take an advantage of such situations. He is like a prowling lion that is hungry and will suddenly attack and gulp down his victim. He is cunning and vicious to kill Christians, make them ineffective, lead them into worldliness, sow discord among them, plant false Christians, incite strange and wrong emotions, push to apostasy, use slander, advance false doctrine, and much more.
Have you witnessed his successes with devouring others? Have you ever felt his stalking, and hidden yourself in faith in Christ? Have you ever been attacked, and cried out to Christ to deliver you?
By remaining firm in our faith we fight him with our faith in Christ. This is a strenuous activity as we battle fear, doubt, temptations to evil, confronting his ways determined not to give in, not to compromise the Gospel in any way.
We have the resources and the means, and we will win by faith. We have Christ Himself and the indwelling Holy Spirit, of course. We have our life of worship, fellowship, and holiness. We have prayer and Scripture; and the authority to rebuke in His Name.
We also can draw strength from our camaraderie of the worldwide fellowship of Christians. We are all experiencing the same things--suffering from world, then exacerbations from devil. We are all “accomplishing” what is required through us in God’s plans (1 Peter 4:12-19). We are not isolated, but bound together, drawing strength and encouragement from one another. Staying current in the Mission of God around the world is a great resistance method to use!
What might be the devil’s designs upon you? Where has he succeeded in the past? How would he hope to use you to injure the interests of Christ and the Gospel? How might Satan’s hostilities, even with human intermediaries, be turned and instead be used stunningly for God’s glory? Think and pray about it.
Anticipate God’s Restoration
1 Peter 5:10–11 ESV “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.”
It is a matter of perspective. After we have suffered “a little while,” is taking the long view from eternity. This is not always “a little while” in our experience, but quite often lengthy, involved, and can even last a lifetime. All the more reason why we need to take this eternal perspective now, for it will really help in our present suffering from a hostile society and demonic opportunists behind the scenes.
He is the God of all grace, that is the One who has called us “into His eternal glory in Christ,” in His choice in election, in bringing our hearing of Gospel, in regenerating us by His Spirit and giving us true life now and glory forever!
That being true, He will most certainly Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us. Restore emphasizes putting our losses right. Confirm emphasizes the firming up of our faith. Strengthen emphasizes the granting of power in weakness and inadequacy. Establish emphasizes the placing of us in security.
These are things God does through our suffering now, and at end of each season of suffering, and will do in the very End. Make this your prayer list when you go through those difficult times!
God is the One who rules the world in absolute power. We praise Him for doing those four things: graciously restoring, confirming, strengthening, establishing. We are confident that He will deliver us from all evil. We pray for the bringing to completion of His purposes with all the present suffering and evil in the world to rule in open glory and with His glorified and perfected people!
Where The Battle Rages
Suffering is always present; and it comes and goes in our lives. Where are you in this raging battle? Or, maybe better put for you, where is the battle raging for you?
In the midst of God’s working in suffering, we still need to watch ourselves and watch the devil. Which of the three tactical maneuvers might you need to employ with greater spiritual skill?
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