"But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."
1 Peter 5:10
No one in their right mind likes to suffer. And often we as human beings will do whatever we can to avoid any kind of suffering. But the truth is, our suffering, handled correctly brings about our maturity. Let’s see how this works…
In our verse for today we read that our God is a gracious God. He is the “God of all grace.” He is the God who is the source of all grace. God in grace, always completes what He has begun in grace.1 His grace is always sufficient to meet our need. Peter speaks of the “manifold grace of God,” (1 Peter 4:10). The Greek word for “manifold” means “variegated,” or “of various colors,” “of various sorts” (Thayer). Whatever kind of grace His child needs right now, God has for him. It is there for His child, exactly when it is needed!
God calls us by His grace. He calls us unto “His eternal glory” by Jesus Christ. But before we can arrive at that point, He has some work to do in us, and this work He accomplishes through our suffering. Our suffering is a compulsory prerequisite before glory! And God planned all of this before “He called us by His grace.” And please remember He loves us and is all-wise, He knows precisely what it will take to accomplish His work in us.
His work of suffering in our lives brings about His good results!
Our suffering is for the purpose of:
“Making you perfect” – God Himself is the one who does this work in us. He
Makes us complete. He is the One who repairs in us what is broken, and equips
and prepares us for service in His Kingdom. God will perfect us so that no
deficiency will remain in us.
“Stablishing you” – God “stabilizes” His child. He sets us firmly in place. We are
“steadfast,” fixed on Him. Paul reminds us that we are “steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord…” (1 Corinthians 15:58). God stablishes us so that we will not be “soon shaken” (2 Thessalonians 2:2).
“Strengthening you” – God makes us strong, He gives us strength of soul. God
strengthens us so that our faith stands “in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:5;
also see 2 Corinthians 4:7).
“Settling you” – God is the One who “grounds us securely!” The word root of the
Greek word used here is the word for “foundation.” This is the same word for the
“foundation” that was built on the “rock” in Jesus’ story of the wise man and foolish man, (Matthew 7:25). This is what God does with us, He grounds us, places us firmly on the solid rock!
Believer, are you going through the crucible of suffering? Take heart! God makes no mistakes. Remember Paul’s encouragement to the Corinthians…
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the
things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen
are eternal,” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
“It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus!”
1. See Jamison-Fausset-Brown, in eSword.