Stand Strong Regardless of Suffering

Devotion

5-21-10

 

Stand Strong Regardless of Suffering

 

I Peter 2:20-21

“For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

 

Read the verse again and this time, notice the yellow highlights. The first one is about us suffering for doing what’s right and it clearly states that if we endure the suffering with patience it will find favor with God. 

Next notice the words that are not colored but are underlined. We see that Christ suffered but committed no sin.  Therefore He was suffering for doing what was right.

Now look at the second yellow highlight, it reveals how Christ handled His suffering.

Finally, take a look at the two phrases that are highlighted in blue-green. The first one is what the Lord tells us to do, “you patiently endure” and the second one explains what that means, “entrusting yourself to Him”.

 

You see it isn’t that your suffering itself finds favor, but its entrusting your life, through the suffering, to Him who judges righteously, this finds favor with God. Patience means we know that the suffering we are going through will, in time, pass because we trust our God of heaven to judge those who wrong us as well as free us from our persecution. Patience, trusting God, finds favor with Him because He knows we depend on Him. This is however, not the only way to find favor with God, but it is one way we can know for sure whose we are.

 

Remember, Christ is our living example of how we are to live our lives. He suffered, and in our suffering we become like Him. He endured His suffering by entrusting Himself to the Father and when we endure and entrust our lives to the Father we become more like Him.  So, whatever you are facing today, if you are suffering for doing what is right, rejoice, because our God in heaven has promised that He Himself will handle the situation and pour out His favor on you. In so doing you will gain a peace and a power to stand strong regardless of your suffering.

 

What an awesome God we serve who personally understands our suffering & needs, gives us hope & strength and empowers us to stand strong regardless of suffering.