Tag: Trials

“Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (I Peter 4:15-19).

Peter says that there are four attitudes believers must have when experiencing trials. First, Christians should not be surprised when trials come into their lives (I Peter 4:12). Second, we are to rejoice in our trials (I Peter 4:13). Thirdly, Christians are to evaluate their trials (I Peter 4:15-18). Fourthly, Christians are to trust God regarding His purpose(s) in their trials (I Peter 4:19).

I had a conversation once with a friend of mine who rejected the notion that God has anything to do with the trials in our lives. He didn’t deny that trials were real and that they do occur, but he vehemently argued that God in no way at all is responsible, or has a purpose, for our trials.

What my friend didn’t understand was that he was denying a fundamental truth found in the Scriptures regarding the person of God. That truth is that God is sovereignly providential. The word providence, meaning to see before, is the biblical doctrine that God not only knows what is going to occur in our lives before it happens, but also that He is in total control of what occurs in our lives before, during and after it happens. Acts 17:28 says, “In him we live and move and have our being.” See also Job 12:10; Daniel 5:23.

Genesis 50:20 records Joseph’s words to his brothers who years before had sold him into slavery. He said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Exodus 4:10-12 says, “¹⁰ But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

I Peter 4:19 supports the biblical doctrine of God’s providence when Peter writes, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will…” I Peter 4:19 reflects a sentence structure of cause and effect. For every cause, there is a corresponding effect or result because of the preceding cause. The statement, “Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will” is the causal statement of I Peter 4:19.

Peter is concluding this extended section on suffering in general, and evaluating our suffering in particular, by stating that behind, or underneath, our pain and suffering for Christ is the providential will (θέλημα; thelema), purpose and desire of God. God has a sovereign and providential plan for each believer. This plan includes not just the possibility, but the probability if not the certainty, of trials.

The effect of understanding this truth of God’s purpose in bringing trials into our lives, is that we will continually entrust, remain committed to, depend upon and worship God in our souls, or our entire being. To entrust (παρατίθημι; paratithemi) is God’s command that with one’s entire being the believer will commit themselves to the care of God. God is not the great clock watcher who created this world and then leaves it alone. Rather, He not only created the world, but He also sustains it. We therefore are to entrust our very lives to Him. Why should we? Because God loves us.

In writing of the love of God, Dr. J.I. Packer writes, “God’s love is stern, for it expresses holiness in the lover and seeks holiness for the beloved. Scripture does not allow us to suppose that because God is love we may look to him to confer happiness on people who will not seek holiness, or to shield his loved ones from trouble when he knows that they need trouble to further their sanctification.”

Dr. Don Carson writes, “We follow Christ’s example, by committing the out-come of our life into God’s hands. Commit, or entrust, is the word used by Jesus in Luke 23:46 (citing Psalm 31:5). Every faithful Jew used this as a final prayer at night and this may be the thought here. Paul used the noun derived from this root in 2 Tim. 1:12 to express his confidence in God’s safe keeping. Creator is used here probably to remind the readers of God’s power (cf. 1:5 and Paul’s thought in Philippians 1:6).”

The reason God commands us to trust Him in our trials, as we evaluate our behavior to ensure we have not done anything to warrant righteous punishment, is partly because God in no way is under obligation to explain His reasons for not only allowing trials, but also purposing trials in our lives. This truth is that we are the creation and God is the creator, not the other way around. He understands the value of the trials He brings into our lives, even when we do not.

Not only is God our creator and sustainer, He is a faithful (πιστός; pistos) creator and sustainer. This means that God is trustworthy, dependable, committable and worthy of worship. There is no shadow of turning with God.

While preparing for, while in the midst of, and even in the aftermath of trials, we must continue to do good. We seek to honor God in our lives in everything we do and what we do not do. We pursue holiness (I Peter 1:16) even while we are in the midst of pain.

The friend I spoke of earlier, at the time of the conversation I related, had recently lost a loved one to an unexpected death. My friend would not agree with me that God had a purpose in this pain and loss. I don’t know if my friend now accepts this biblical truth even though it has been several years after the incidence in question.

Are you expecting trials? You should! Are you praising God when you experience trials? You should! Are you evaluating the reasons for your trials? You should! Are you trusting God in your trials? You should!

Make it a priority of your prayers that you will ask God to help you obey the commandments found in this text from I Peter. It may not be easy at first to not be taken by surprise or to rejoice, to evaluate, or to trust God when trials eventually come, but continue to ask, seek and knock (Luke 11:5-13) for God’s strength to be faithful to His Word. Do so boldly and shamelessly. God will answer your persistent prayer.

Soli deo Gloria!

^“But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”(I Peter 4:15-18).

Peter says that there are four attitudes believers must have when experiencing trials. First, Christians should not be surprised when trials come into their lives (I Peter 4:12). Second, we are to rejoice in our trials (I Peter 4:13). Thirdly, Christians are to evaluate their trials (I Peter 4:15-18).

If judgement and a proper evaluation of the church’s sins is necessary, how much more so for the unbeliever? The Apostle Peter now adds that God providentially brings persecutions in order to discipline and to purify the church. If the church needs such purifying judgment, how much more for those who are disobedient to the gospel and face eternal judgment.

Peter quotes from Proverbs 11:31 to support his contention. Trials are never easy. However, the believer in Christ evaluates his trials to examine whether they are because of his sin, realizing that God’s judgment of the Christian is temporary while they remain on this earth, while God’s judgment of the unsaved is eternal.

The Puritan pastor and theologian Matthew Henry writes, “What shall the end be of those who obey not the gospel of God?” First, the best of God’s servants, his own household, have so much amiss in them as renders it fit and necessary that God should sometimes correct and punish them with his judgments: Judgment begins at the house of God. Secondly, those who are the family of God have their worst things in this life. Their worst condition is tolerable, and will soon be over. Thirdly, such persons or societies of men as disobey the gospel of God are not of his church and household, though possibly they may make the loudest pretensions. The apostle distinguishes the disobedient from the house of God. Fourthly, the sufferings of good people in this life are demonstrations of the unspeakable torments that are coming upon the disobedient and unbelieving: What shall the end be of those that obey not the gospel? Who can express or say how dreadful their end will be?

Are you evaluating the reasons for your trials? Did you do something wrong? If so, repent and ask forgiveness and prepare to face the consequences. However, if you suffer unjustly when someone else has violated God’s law, you are not permitted to also violate God’s law as payback to those who have hurt you. On the contrary, we are to glorify God by obeying His commandments.

Make it a priority of your prayers that you will ask God to help you obey the commandments found in this text from I Peter. It may not be easy at first to not be taken by surprise or to rejoice, or to glorify God when trials eventually come, but continue to ask, seek and knock (Luke 11:5-13) for God’s strength to be faithful to His Word. Do so boldly and shamelessly. God will answer your persistent prayer.

Soli deo Gloria!

^“But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (I Peter 4:15-17).

Peter says that there are four attitudes believers must have when experiencing trials. First, Christians should not be surprised when trials come into their lives (I Peter 4:12). Second, we are to rejoice in our trials (I Peter 4:13). Thirdly, Christians are to evaluate their trials (I Peter 4:15-18).

One commentator writes, “As second-century apologists, or defenders of Christianity, pointed out, the only charge on which true Christians were ever convicted was the charge of being a Christian.” This is what Peter refers to in I Peter 4:16. Peter now says in I Peter 4:17 that believers need to begin evaluating the trying circumstances they are facing. It is time for judgment to begin with the church.

The word judgment (κρίμα; krima) means to evaluate and to render a decision as to a person’s guilt or innocence. The apostle says such judgement must begin with the household (οἶκος; oikos) or sanctuary belonging to God alone. In other words, believers in particular, along with the church in general, must begin evaluating whether they are experiencing suffering because they are, or have, broken God’s law.

This is not an easy, or common, discipline for the church. More than likely the church tends to think they are being unfairly victimized. However, the apostle warns and instructs the church that a proper diagnosis of one’s ailments, spiritually speaking, will lead to a prescription for healing and a prognosis for future spiritual health.

One commentator writes, “The image of judgment beginning at God’s household is an Old Testament one (Ezekiel 9:6; cf. Jeremiah 25:18–29; Amos 3:2), as is the ominous expression, “the time has come” (Ezekiel 7:7, 12). Peter probably sees suffering also as God’s discipline, as Jewish teachers did. Throughout history, persecution has refined and strengthened the church.”

Are you evaluating the reasons for your trials? Did you do something wrong? If so, repent and ask forgiveness and prepare to face the consequences. However, if you suffer unjustly when someone else has violated God’s law, you are not permitted to also violate God’s law as payback to those who have hurt you. On the contrary, we are glorify God by obeying His commandments.

Make it a priority of your prayers that you will ask God to help you obey the commandments found in this text from I Peter. It may not be easy at first to not be taken by surprise or to rejoice, or to glorify God when trials eventually come, but continue to ask, seek and knock (Luke 11:5-13) for God’s strength to be faithful to His Word. Do so boldly and shamelessly. God will answer your persistent prayer.

Soli deo Gloria!

^“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (I Peter 4:12).

For the fourth time in his letter Peter speaks to Christians about the reality of trials in their lives specifically because of their testimony for Jesus Christ. Peter has acknowledged that trials may grieve the believer (I Peter 1:7), but he has also encouraged the faithful to look at the example of Jesus Christ and how He handled the trials and persecutions He encountered (I Peter 2:18-25; 3:13-17).

Peter tenderly addresses his readers as beloved (ἀγαπητός; agapetos) from the root word agape meaning the object of one’s affection or the one who is prized and dearly and self-sacrificially loved. We do not know if Peter was personally acquainted with these to whom he wrote, but it didn’t matter. He loved them just the same as if it was Jesus Christ speaking to them; and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that’s exactly who was speaking to them then, and to us today.

Peter says that there are four attitudes believers must have when experiencing trials. First, Christians should not be surprised when trials come into their lives. The phrase “do not be surprised (μή ξενίζω; me xenizo) is a commandment. We are never to be taken by surprise when trials come, unlike a person who answers the door and is surprised by a friend who has come to visit. The word surprise means to experience a sudden feeling of unexpected wonder. This is not a problem when opening gifts on Christmas Day, but it should not be our response when difficulties occur in our walk with Christ.

Jesus said in John 16:33 that believers would experience trouble in this world. However, He also told His disciples to be encouraged because He had already overcome the world. Our view of trials says less about how we view our circumstances and ourselves, but more about how we view God. If we acknowledge and believe the biblical truth that God is sovereign, then we must view trials as being within the sovereign plan and purpose of Almighty God in our lives.

Make no mistake. Peter says trials (πειρασμός; peiriasmos) and testing’s will come, and that they will be fiery (πύρωσις; pyrosis) painful and intense. This cuts against the grain of the health/wealth peddled message preached by so many pastors in America today. Yet, anyone with half a brain can see that such a popular soft-soap message flies in the face of hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and flooding which many in the United States, and the world, have encountered. What Peter is writing in I Peter 4:12 isn’t popular, but it is truth.

Inherent in the word “trials” is that they are times of testing and examination. Peter implicitly, and explicitly, explains that this is a fact believers must accept because trials are something they will experience. Our trials show God, and ourselves, how mature, or immature, we are in our faith.

There are some who say that when trials come, it is because of sin. Not necessarily. Peter says that trials should be not viewed as something strange were happening in our lives. The word happening means to occur by chance or fate. Trials are to be understood as the normal and expected destiny for each Christian.

How do you view your trials? Are you surprised by suffering? Honestly, I think most of us are, in spite of the commandment in I Peter 4:12 to not be shocked and dismayed. Make it a priority of your prayers that you will ask God to help you obey the commandment found in this text from I Peter. It may not be easy at first to not be taken by surprise when trials eventually come, but continue to ask, seek and knock (Luke 11:5-13) for God’s strength to be faithful to His Word. Do so boldly and shamelessly. God will answer your persistent prayer.

Soli deo Gloria!