“...and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
 |
| Hold His hand
in childlike trust, and the way before you will open up step by step. ~ Psalm 73:23-24 NLT 23 Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand . |
1
Peter 1:6-8,
“In
all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may
have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so
that the proven genuineness of your faith -of greater worth than
gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -may result in
praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you
have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him
now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and
glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the
salvation of your souls.”
1
Peter 2:21,23
“To
this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an
example, that you should follow in his steps... When they hurled
their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made
no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
1
Peter 5:8-9.
“Be
alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing
firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers
throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering.”
Some
words of Jesus stand out for me as I read the words of Peter:
John
14:1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe
also in Me.”
John
16:33, “In the world you have tribulation, but
take courage; I have overcome the world."
I've always seen the book of 1 Peter as
dealing with persecution and suffering. He was writing “to
encourage suffering believers in Asia Minor to stand firm for Christ
in the midst of persecutions.” [1]
Just as Jesus told us, in this world we
will have difficulties and trials. We will suffer and like Jesus be
persecuted at times. Peter doesn't seem to spend any energy on
how to avoid or get out of suffering. His answer to all difficulties
is a simple solution – embrace them by trusting Christ. Let your
heart have the simple faith of a child who believes they will be
cared for and do not give way to the lies that surround you.
1
Peter 3:14-15 says,
“'Do
not fear their threats; do not be frightened.' But in your hearts
revere Christ as Lord.”
“All I have in this world is You...
All the journeys in this world I know you've walked them too. All I
want is to be faithful, all I want is You” sings.
“Oh to be a friend of God is all that
I desire.”
Commentary notes, “Nothing can hinder
that heart that is fully surrendered and quietly trusting, because
nothing can hinder God.”
Jesus did not fight the cross He was
called to carry, but moved toward it, embraced it and held on to it.
Even at the very end of His life, Jesus was still submissively
trusting His Father as He cried out, "'Father, I entrust my
spirit into your hands!' And with those words he breathed his last.”
(Luke 23:46)
Rather than wrestle through our
circumstances trying to wield them in a way that we are comfortable
with or feel in control, as we mature in Christ, we grow in our
capacity to surrender ourselves to Christ, embrace our difficulties,
and let Him care for and carry us through. We lose our fight in the
sense of resisting our difficulties and needing to win and instead
begin to surrender and allow God more and more to have His way –
resulting in our death to selves.
Peter was an example of this growing
maturity in his ability to surrender and trust. Jesus told him in
John 21:18, “Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you
dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you
will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead
you where you do not want to go.” Jesus told him this to indicate
the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God (vs. 19).
Later, the same Peter who initially
denied Christ three times under threat and persecution, refused to
back down when he himself stood before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:18-20).
After being threatened, him and John went back to their community
and prayed with the believers not to lessen their difficulties but
for greater boldness in the midst of the threats (vs 29). Rather
than shrinking back from difficulty, they pressed in further to
storming the gates of hell (vs 30).
Nehemiah was also one who ran into a
great deal of opposition and as a result, grew in his trust and
abandonment. He had put his hands to what his heart was prompting
and began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. When he did, tremendous
opposition broke out. Him and those rebuilding along with him were
constantly threatened. Opposition not only broke out from the
outside, but internally - some Jews began taking advantage of less
well off Jews who were working alongside them in rebuilding.
In addition to this, Nehemiah's life
was threatened. Nehemiah didn't quit but he prayed for his hands to
be strengthened and kept on working. Then one of his fellow Jew
tried to manipulate him and get him to run away and hide so he would
be discredited. He refused to be intimidated and give in to fear.
1
Peter 3:6 says,
“….
You are her [Sarah's] daughters if you do what is right and do not
give way to fear.”
Trials and tribulations are often the
training ground that help us to grow in this trust and abandonment to
God. James 1:3 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you
encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith
produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.…”
Instead of running, crumbling in fear,
hiding or retaliating, we invite what God may be doing in it and
pray to be strengthened. Instead of flight or fight, we continue to
do good and use our gifts to serve others in love.
1
Peter 4:10 says,
“Each
of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as
faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms...”
In
serving others with the gifts we have been given, we bring glory to
God. And as John Ortberg notes, Jesus came as a servant and in doing
so, he was revealing the nature of God.[2] When we are servants to
others, we are taking on the very nature of God and revealing this
nature to others around us.
Just
as with Nehemiah and Peter, there will be times that this service
will bring opposition and difficulties our way. Rather than become
discouraged or try to avoid them, we entrust ourselves to God.
1
Peter 4:19 says, So then, those who suffer according to God's will
should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do
good.”
What God is looking for is not for our
great accomplishments [this is probably more about our own sense of
significance] as much as He is looking for our trust in Him. In
“Abandonment to Divine Providence,” Jean-Pierre de Caussade
speaks of living life in this place of abandonment and surrender to
God where we live in the moment, every moment with God. [3]
Jean-Pierre de Caussade speaks of
operating out of a place of trust in fidelity to the duties appointed
by God both in active practice and by passive exercise. He writes,
“The active practice of fidelity consists in accomplishing the
duties which devolve upon us whether imposed by the general laws of
God and the Church, or by the particular state that we may have
embraced. Its passive exercise consists in the loving acceptance of
all that God sends to us each moment. [4]
This
place of trusting and embracing is not only to be for our difficulty
and trials, but in all our cicumstances. As we grow in our trust and
abandonment to Him in all things, we find ourselves walking in
greater harmony to God (Amos 3:3).
In
Letters by a Modern Mystic, he wrote about his best day of living
this place of surrender and walking in full harmony/ present to God,
“I felt then that for a day I saw a little of the marvelous pull
that Jesus had as He walked along the road day after day, 'God
intoxicated' and radiant with the endless communion of His soul with
God.” [5]
Lord,
more than anything we long to be “God intoxicated and radiant with
endless communion” of our souls with You. Be our continual feast
as you grow us in in childlike trust and abandonment to you in all
things. Help us to embrace difficulties with a heart to move towards
and press into them when it is your will rather then to run or shrink
back from them.
2. Ortberg, John. The Life You've Always Wanted. Zondervan. Grand Rapids, MI. 1997, 2002.
5. Laubach, Frank C. Letters by a Modern Mystic. Purposeful Design, Colorado Springs, Co. 2007.
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