SUFFERING— ENTRUST YOURSELF TO OUR LORD
SUFFERING— ENTRUST YOURSELF TO OUR LORD
For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. —-I Peter 3:17
But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. —I Peter 4:15-16
Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. —I Peter 4:19
There are those who suffer for doing what is good. Consider what our Lord said about Job—- “Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8). Job suffered immensely, but it was not for doing evil. On the contrary, our Lord said Job was “blameless and upright.” Job was suffering “according to God’s will.” We may not fully understand all the reasons in God’s will for his suffering, but we know God had great purpose in His suffering. Just think of the countless people that have been encouraged by Job as they go through suffering. In God’s will, suffering comes in various forms and beware of assuming anyone, including yourself, is suffering for doing evil. If you are suffering for doing evil, then God’s Holy Spirit will bring that conviction.
Now, fellow followers of Jesus, we are not to “suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.” If we suffer for doing so it is because we have brought that on by our own actions. So let us flee from those actions and any other evil action.
“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” Even as we suffer for doing good, we are to entrust our “souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” May we do so, Dear Father, by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3YGczmlbV8