1 Peter 5:10 – 11 “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure (confirm) you, strengthen you, and establish you. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen. “
As I am writing this, riots and demonstrations have shredded many neighborhoods throughout America. Many have lost homes, businesses, and sometimes even their lives. Many more are appalled by the filth they are seeing in entertainment or on social media. America seems to be awash in a satanic onslaught! Where is God in all of this?
Well, God is still where He always has been, still on the throne of the universe. God is not running around wringing His hands and wondering how He is going to deal with all this mess. God has perfect peaceful solutions, but it takes people who are willing to stand for righteousness to carry out those solutions and to be people of peace at the same time. Being a person of peace is a guarantee that sooner or later, someone will be offended by your refusal to fight back.
Standing for righteousness is a risky business. Sometimes it might cost far more than we anticipated. But all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for men of good will to do nothing. We must speak out and we must pray. But is all of this new? No.
Consider the ancient city of Corinth. Corinth was located on an isthmus between two major bodies of water and was a major trading port. Everything was available in Corinth, including every kind of sin imaginable. Slavery, child prostitution, sex trafficking, drugs, alcohol… it was all there in Corinth. And yet, there were Jesus followers in Corinth who were willing to stand up for their beliefs and suffer the consequences.
Christians in some parts of the world have always suffered. Consider Sudan, where some Christians were even crucified, Nigeria, India, and other areas. Jesus even referred to this that last night he spent with his disciples. John 15:18 – 20 records Jesus’ warning: “If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well…”
The good news in the midst of this is that we will not always suffer. The God of all grace who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ has promised that He Himself will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. What do we mean when we say that God is gracious? We mean that God is forgiving and that He blesses us, even though we don’t deserve it. WHY does God do this? Because of the blood sacrifice Jesus made of Himself on the cross at Calvary. It is the glory of God that He was willing to allow His only Son to make that sacrifice, and that glory is eternal because nothing can ever damage it or cause it to fail or to fade away.
There are all kinds of cynical proverbs about promises and those who make them, but God is a faithful Promise Keeper. God never goes back on His Word. So if God is promising to restore us, to confirm us as His children, to strengthen us and to establish us, He will do exactly what He has promised. But we must realize that this process may go on both in this life and in the next. There are poor villagers in Northern Nigeria who have been slaughtered in their churches for their faith. But we are only seeing the sad part of their story and not the restoration.
The Great Restoration is described in Revelations 7:15 – 17 “They are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
While we are coping with daily problems, it is tough to realize that we all actually inhabit eternity and that our daily decisions have eternal implications. But one day we will stand before Jesus. None of us is righteous enough to earn our way into heaven, no matter how much we have sacrificed or suffered. But if we accept what Jesus has done for us in shedding His blood to take away our sins, we will be accepted into heaven and restoration will begin, a restoration that will last for eternity.
PRAYER: Father God, help those who read this devotional to seek you and find you. And let them truly know the joy of knowing and loving you. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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