Suffering
What is suffering? Some people reading this are probably saying, “what I am doing right now!” Some are probably right. In the truest sense of suffering, under its strictest definition, we are all currently suffering to some degree. The definition of suffer is to “experience pain, illness or injury” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Suffering is to suffer - to be experiencing loss, pain, illness, etc. I bet at some level every one of us is experiencing suffering right now.
That is what Peter proposed in his first epistle. In the fifth chapter of his letter and the ninth verse he says that “the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” Peter was writing to the Christians in Asia Minor which was a territory of the Roman Empire at the time. Peter makes his proposition of similar suffering in connection with his instruction to resist the devil firmly in faith. In other words, you know that all the body of Christ throughout the world is suffering similarly to you so resist the deception of the evil one to give up or to give in and stand firm against him in the faith that you have been given.
In this same area of his letter Peter instructs his readers to humble themselves, to cast their anxieties on God, to be sober-minded and watchful. Peter was always pretty thorough when it came to instruction. But at the end of his letter he gets to the part that I want to focus on for this entry. In verse 10 he states, “And after you have suffered a little while …” Ok, let’s stop right there for a minute. Peter does not give hope of getting out of suffering. That is just like Peter - Hard nosed, straightforward. The only punches Peter pulled were the ones that had already connected.
Hey, Peter, don’t you know that we don’t like suffering?! Give us the 5 Step Get Out of Suffering Powerpoint preaching. Give us the book on How to Live the Victorious Christian Life. Can’t we talk about a building campaign or something. Please excuse my sarcasm. But I cannot recall the last time I actually heard a spiritual leader state that we WILL suffer. It is not that I like suffering personally or that I want others to suffer. I understand that Jesus came to give us Life and that even in abundance. But Jesus did not come to relieve us from suffering in a fallen world. He came to give us strength to do what Peter instructs the Christians of old to do - stand firm. You are going to suffer - period. People will die. You will get sick. You will lose something - property, dignity, freedom, and the list goes on.
I better go on now. Peter continues his epistle in verse 10, “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 …” A really quick stop right there. First of all, Peter references God as the God of All grace. There is no grace outside of God. He has it all and with it He has strengthened you for the calling of His eternal glory. His glory is forever and you are part of it through Christ Jesus. Now understand that what is about to be discussed will be done by that same God “himself”. Peter made it clear that there was no third party involved in this transaction. God did not send His angels to help out. He did not hand it over to some spiritual leader to work out the details. Oh, they may certainly be used in the process to be discussed, but the Bible is clear: it is the God of All Grace in His Eternal Glory that will HIMSELF do this.
What’s God going to do? Well Peter goes on to say, “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.” (Emphasis added by me because I think that Peter would have added emphasis as well. He was like that). Let’s get into these:
Restore - the first action of suffering is loss. You get the news and you lose peace. You get the diagnosis and you lose faith. You lose a loved one and you lose it all. Loss is the foundation on which suffering is built. God’s first action after you have suffered a little while is to restore - to bring back, to replace, to refill. God, Himself, will bring back to you all. He will turn that foundation of loss and that building of suffering into a warehouse where He can RESTOCK all that was taken or went missing.
Confirm - next God is going to confirm. That is, God, Himself, is going to set things straight. He will bring truth. He will correct that which the suffering misrepresented. Key element here is that, while there is plenty to be corrected in suffering, the main confirmation that God is interested in is you. Remember that God did not call your stuff, your ego, your reputation or anything else to His eternal glory. He called you. In correcting suffering, God confirms you. The truth is that regardless of what suffering may have done, God says “You are My child.” No loss and no experience of suffering can take that away.
Strengthen - everyone who suffers loses strength. Our strength is not sufficient for the task of suffering. We work within our strength to make it through but the fact is that ultimately we must rely on God’s strength to finally make it. Through the experience of suffering, if we call upon the Lord, He is faithful and always presence to provide His strength through the storm. Just as the steady hand of Jesus raised Peter out of the water on the stormy sea, so that same hand is present when we call out in the midst of suffering. Then we experience the lifting hand of Jesus to help us make it through. But that is not the strength that is being talked about here. The strengthening that is discussed in this tenth verse is a grant of strength, an endowment of power. A Christian who experiences suffering is granted a strength or a restrengthening from God. Note that the battery of your strength was used up in the suffering. You had none of yours left. When God refills your strength, it is His strength that fills you. That would be an eternal strength. This is often exemplified in a person’s ability to minister in the area of suffering through which they have lived.
Establish - finally God, Himself, will establish you. Remember the foundation of suffering is loss? Well, while the process of suffering builds a foundation of loss, it also involves destroying whatever foundation you have in your life. Suffering has a way of stripping a person of everything. But as we see, God is about taking that broken, mangled sufferer and making them right again. His final step in the process of undoing sufferings effects is to replace the foundation. You may have lost your own foundation when suffering hit, but know this: when all's said and done, God, Himself, is going to ESTABLISH a new foundation - a sure, firm and permanent foundation. What is meant by “establish you” in verse 10 is that God will make you, your life, your testimony, YOU an everlasting proclamation to His eternal glory. God says, “through the desolation, the pain, the loss, through the suffering, My child stood firm and trusted in Me and I delivered him.” Praise be until our Lord forever.
Now, I realize that none of this makes suffering any better. Suffering sucks, and there is not anything that anyone is going to do to solve that. Peter did not give hope of a less painful suffering and I sure don’t either. God does not even say suffering won’t hurt. Suffering is suffering - plain and simple. But we, as Christians, can know that after a little while, after suffering does its thing for a little bit, after we get done with suffering for a short period of time, God has a plan. God has a purpose and He, Himself, will work to see it through to completion. Suffering may have its day of battle, but our God has our eternal victory and His eternal Glory.
1 Peter 5:6-11