Getting a Grip when it all Hurts Part 5

Getting a Grip  When it all hurts  Part 5

1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. [8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [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 restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Restore
Confirm
Strengthen
Establish

Do you want it - or not?

I ask that often.  Am I willing to suffer (for a little while) in order for God to bless me with these four mercies?  I take them as indesputable promises and so my answer is a weak but firm "yes."

I don't like the suffering part but I'm not sure we're supposed to like it anyway.  I do think that we are to keep the end in view - add everything up so we may:

James 1:2 ESV
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

and let's not exclude:

James 1:3-4 ESV
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. [4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Is this really what we want?  Or do we want to have a haven here instead of heaven there?  Oh how the love of the world smothers all our sense and sensibleness.  How the flesh warps and twists our hearts so that we desire the best here where it can never be available.  How poor and weak are we that we (and I mean WE) seek to live here without a deep desire for heaven.


We are so infected with the;
1 John 2:16
desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions-

We forget that all of this, "is not from the Father but is from the world."

We are promised food, clothing and shelter.  We are not promised what kind or how much.  And I am learning that I have too much and that this too much has trapped me in the world.  I am being restored, confirmed, strengthened and established in ways I never suspected. And were it not for the suffering we are experiencing I'd have probably never even seen it.  As we live close to poverty I see the real poverty under which we lived.  As needs grow larger and more un-meetable I see what my real needs are - to which I was blind.  As a sense of worldly failure overwhelms me I discover what true success is - must be.  As the world in my life slowly diminishes heaven grows larger and His mercies and blessing grow more and more grand.

Brother and sisters I encourage you to live in such a way that God does not need to teach by a hard lesson.  Live with little, fight the covetousness that so easily infects our feeble hearts.  Begin now to loosen your grip on the world so the world's grip on you may be loosened.  Fight the real fight - the fight to live in humulity and submission to Him.  Question every eyarning, every desire, every choice.  Examine every thought and inclination.

If you are suffering, you are not alone and probably your suffering pales in comparison to most -  But suffering, no matter how bad is suffering.  I pray for you that you will not suffer long and that you (and we) will soon be the joyous recipients of the mercies God promises in this verse.

Getting a Grip When it all hurts Part 4 040414

Getting a Grip  When it all hurts  Part 4

1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. [8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [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 restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

[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 restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

"After a little while."  How long is a little while?  How long?  As we count time a little while is days - but when days pass it is weeks but when weeks pass it is months and on it goes.  God counts time differently and we have to get a grip on that!  But He does mean a little while.

Several years ago I got sick.  Noone could tell what was wrong.  It was just a matter of a few weeks but it seemed like forever.  Every minute was longer - every hour lasted 2 - every day seemed to be 48 hours long.  A little while seemed like ages.

Hopelss, in pain, high anxiety and loosing weight at an alarming rate every second seemed an eternity.  But it was just a few weeks.  A little while.

God counts time differently and His timetable does not run like ours.  His timetable, I believe, runs on our receptiveness to His work in our lives.  Why did Joseph have to be in prison as long as He was, what's up with 400 in Egypt?  Why did Jesus only have 3 years of ministry?  What's up with God and time?

I don't know.  But I do know that in this passage Peter uses "a little while," and I will take Him at his word on that.

Regardless of how long this little while is - isn't it worth the promise of restoration, confirmation, strength and being established?  Is the promise worth waiting through the period of provision.

Perhaps if we could come to see suffering as a period of provision we might do better than we do.  God is never idle and in our suffering He is at work within us and in His creation.  He CAN change things in an instant - He CAN change us in and instance - but except for a rare occurance we just don't see Him doing that in His Word - so can we really expect to be the exception to the norm?
A little while - it can be a tough little while if we are not believing that what is promised is behind the time and circumstance.  We can't know what the restoration, confirmation, strength and being established will look like.  Things may well be very different from what we desire or expect but a promise is a promise - right?  And is it not the promise that should guide us in counting the moments.  Should our "time anxiety" really be a strong expectation for His work to be done and for us to come to that moment of restoration, confirmation, strength and being established?

We live in a, "When you absolutely, positively need it overnight," world.  We want next day shipping from God.  We want it and we want it now.  But when we will come to see that this is not how God always works?  When will we see that for whatever good reason He works in His creation within our time.