Thursday Devo

Scripture:

1 Peter 4
19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.

Commentary:

4:19 This verse encapsulates the message of 1 Peter: Believers suffer in accord with the will of God, for he rules over everything that happens to them. As the sovereign Creator, God is also loving and faithful, therefore they should entrust their lives entirely to him, just as Jesus did when he suffered (2:23). Such trust manifests itself in doing what is good.
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2412.

Questions:

The bottom line is, Peter is encouraging us to keep doing what is right, even if it causes suffering, and ENTRUST ourselves to God. He is our faithful Creator, and He has the right to do with us as He pleases. Even if it hurts, even if we're desperate or angry, even if we don't understand... we trust. God is doing His DEEPEST WORK in your DARKEST MOMENTS. Is it hard to wrap your mind around the fact that some suffering you endure is God's will? Do you find it hard to trust Him in that way? How can you grow your faith and trust in God even in suffering?
Reflect on this quote from Jack Deere: "I've suffered in my life for things that I've done wrong, I've suffered in my life for things that I didn't deserve, but I've never experienced suffering I didn't need." What is God saying to you through these passages? What needs to change?

Pray:

That you would develop a theology of suffering.
That your trust in God would grow.

This Week's City 7:

Try to commit to memory!

5. Why do I follow Jesus? I follow Jesus because Jesus rose from the dead proving that He is the way, the truth and the life.
(Matthew 7:24-27; John 14:6)

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