"In His kindness, God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation." 1 Peter 5:10
Not long ago, I was decorating a ginger bread house with my niece and nephew. We had a blast making a beautiful ginger bread mansion with icing and candy all over it. In fact, they may have been more excited about the candy and icing more than the decorating. I had to explain that we did not want to waste the icing and candy by eating it all. We needed it to decorate for the house. The kids hopefully learned a valuable lesson that day: a wise artist, even a ginger bread house artist, wastes nothing. I hope this lesson will one day point them to the ultimate Creator. God, being the all-wise, ultimate Creator of the world, wastes nothing, not even suffering and persecution that we face. We have been talking all week about the suffering a member of the early church, Stephen faced. He was ultimately killed for his faith in Christ. We have seen how God took care of him in the middle of persecution. In our Bible study today, we are going to see how even our suffering is not wasted. Peter 5 has become so dear to me throughout times of suffering and reminds me that God uses our trials, including persecution, x to help us grow and bring us closer to Him. In this chapter, Peter writes that we can have hope in our suffering, because God uses our trials and suffering for good. You see, at the time Peter wrote this letter, the church was being brutally tortured by the Roman government. They were facing an intense season of suffering. Like the early church, we, today, also go through much suffering. You and I certainly know this to be true. As we face the heartache in our world today, Peter brings peace and hope when he promises us that God will not allow our suffering to be wasted. This is what he writes in verse 10, “In His kindness, God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Jesus Christ. So after you have suffered for a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation.” Let’s break down this verse for a minute: In the past, God called us to share in His eternal glory. In the future, God promises His eternal glory. In our present suffering, God is restoring, supporting, and strengthening us through our suffering. This means that He is with us the entire way through our suffering and trials. We are not alone, and God is using every bit of our suffering for good. This should lead us to declare, along with Peter in the very next verse, “All power to Him forever!” (verse 11). My friend, whatever you face today, I want you to know that God is not going to waste even an ounce of your suffering. He is going to use it to restore, support, and strengthen you. He is going to use your suffering for His glory and your good. This is the promise that you have in Him. What else can we say besides, “All power to Him forever!”
I am certain, my friend, that God is not going to let suffering or persecution go to waste. When we go through suffering, especially persecution. Spend some time right now thinking about how God has used persecution in the past to strengthen you and build you up. What good things has God done, either in your life or the lives of others, to ensure that this suffering you faced was not wasted? Make a list of these things, and then spend time thanking God that He wastes nothing, not even our suffering.
1 Peter 5:1-10 (NLT)
"And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: 2 Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. 3 Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. 4 And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.
5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation."
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