To Encourage You

1 Peter 4:19 “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”

Suffering: one of best definitions I’ve ever heard for it was the following by Elizabeth Elliot: “having something we don’t want or wanting something we don’t have.”  According to the verse above, a similar definition might be “when our will is at cross purposes with God’s will.”  Even Jesus suffered in this way as He cried out in Gethsemane, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).  You see, suffering isn’t suffering if it’s something that is a breeze to pass through. Rather, it is something that rattles us, that we don’t like, that we’d rather do without.  Yet we are told in the verse above that suffering can be “according to God’s will.” Actually, for the believer, we could say that ALL suffering is God’s will, even if that suffering is brought about by our own foolishness. Earlier, Peter had said, “let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler” (1 Peter 4:15).  Although such actions are clearly NOT God’s will for us, the suffering that comes because of them most certainly IS, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:6). 

But what about suffering that accompanies living in accordance with the will of God.  Wouldn’t it seem that we should be free from suffering in that case?  Well, we can look at many examples in the Scriptures to see that, frequently, this isn’t the case.  Think about Joseph, Job, Abraham, Stephen, John, Peter, Paul, and, of course, Jesus.  In the lives of each of these godly men, suffering was a constant companion.  It came often at the hand of Satan directly, or in other cases, indirectly, as this greatest enemy of the believer worked through wicked men and women to “sift them like wheat” (Luke 22:31).  Still, we must never lose sight of the fact that God superintended it all.  He is sovereign over His children. He will never leave them nor forsake them. And nothing that ever touches their lives ever does so without first being permitted by the Good Shepherd Who always watches over His sheep. 

So, what should be our attitude towards those things that we have and don’t want or want and don’t have?  Bitterness?  Grumbling? Complaining?  Is that the example of the godly saints mentioned above? Is that the example of the Lord Jesus Christ?  The answer is obviously “No!” for, you see, “those who suffer according to God’s will are to entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” It’s that reaction that is very unnatural in this world in which we live.  It’s that reaction that is one of the clearest supernatural marks of the transformation that God can produce in a person’s life.  We trust Him because He told us we absolutely CAN trust Him for He is absolutely true to His Word.  And in all of it we can be sure that God is at work in our lives, maturing us to the perfection that is His will for us.  It is through such experiences that God, in His omniscience, is uniquely preparing us for loving ministry to others who are suffering around us. And it is through suffering that He is often working through us to speak to the unbelievers around us in ways that words, alone, cannot.

So, are you suffering at this moment? Are you dealing with anything that you have and you don’t want or want and don’t have?  If so, and if you are a believer, the Lord would have you turn your eyes away from that issue and toward Him. He is faithful. He is working out His perfect will in your and my lives.  We can trust Him like no other.  May we follow the example of the One we claim to follow with His prayer of submission, “not my will but yours be done!”