1 Peter 5:6-10
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
Peter is writing to Christians who are suffering. They are being persecuted.
Peter tells them how to face their suffering, with humility.
They aren’t to fight what’s happening to them. They are to trust in the mighty hand of God.
Is God not powerful enough to stop what was happening? Of course, He is.
Does God not know what’s happening to them? Of course, He does.
Does God not care? Of course, He cares.
Does God not have the authority to intervene? Of course, He does.
God rules supreme and is all-knowing and all-powerful, not to mention is love itself. They are to trust the God of grace.
When we are suffering, we are under the mighty hand of God.
We’re not to wrestle out from under it.
The command to be alert and resist the devil does not mean that we are to fight him off in order to get out of our suffering.
James 4:7 complements these verses in affirming its message. We resist the devil by submitting to God.
The devil isn’t after us so much as he’s after our faith.
When we fight against our suffering, we’re working with the devil, not resisting him.
Submitting to and trusting the God of grace is how we resist the devil’s attempts to knock us off our firm foundation of faith in the Word, in the goodness and love and perfection of Christ.
We are told in God’s word, which is as good as any unbreakable promise, that our deliverance date is marked on the calendar.
It will come at the proper time.
God won’t leave us in suffering for a moment longer than needed.
He will HIMSELF perfect us, confirm us as His own, strengthen us for His work, and establish us as saints in His kingdom.
A temporary time of suffering in exchange for God Himself perfecting us. How could we not see that as worth it?
The Tribulation 