“After you have suffered for a little while,
the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
~~ 1 Peter 5:10 ~~
When I first read this verse, (if I’m being perfectly honest), my first thought was that, when I’m suffering, even “a little while” seems like too long. But it’s apparent that God’s perspective on suffering is quite different from mine. So let’s dig into this verse and see what God has to say.
Let’s start off by seeing what God’s definition of a “little while” is. The Greek word for “little while” is <oligos>, and it means puny (in extent, degree, number, duration). When I looked up puny in the dictionary it was defined as slight or inferior in power, size, importance; weak. As soon as I read “inferior in power”, I thought of the verse that says, “greater is He that is within me” (1 John 4:4), and how, compared to the size of my God, suffering’s power in my life pales in comparison. The question is, what am I going to focus on? The power of my God within me or the power that suffering has over me.
Notice how Peter describes God in this verse – The God of all GRACE. <Charis> is the word used for grace here, and it tells us that God is the Author and the Giver of each and every benefit, and He gives aid and succor to His own. Never wanting to assume I know what a word means, I consulted “Mr. Webster”. He defined “aid” as: providing what is useful in achieving an end; assistance; and he defined succor as: relief, furnishing relief. God gives us what is useful to make us like His Son, which happens to be suffering, but God also furnishes relief to us to help us make it through the suffering.
There is always a purpose in the suffering He allows us to endure. I love how specific this verse is in noting that anything good that comes from our suffering has been given by GOD HIMSELF. There are four things that Peter specifically mentions God doing for us through suffering. Let’s take a look at each of them.
But before we dig into them individually, let me note the parsing information. All of these things that God Himself will do in us are in the FUTURE tense, which indicates the contemplated or certain occurrence of an event which has not yet occurred; the ACTIVE voice, which denotes that the subject (God) is the doer; and in the INDICATIVE mood–which applies to what has occurred, what is occurring and what will occur.
God Himself will PERFECT me
The verb “perfect” in the Greek language means to complete thoroughly; i.e. repair (literally or figuratively) or adjust. Philippians 1:6 says, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”. God’s goal is to transform me into the image of His Son. I don’t know about you, but I tend to learn more from times of suffering than I do when things are going smoothly in my life. Suffering tends to make me “look up” versus getting lulled into a spiritual slumber when things are going well. Suffering has a way of prompting me to “adjust” my priorities by showing me what’s really important.
God Himself will CONFIRM me
The verb “confirm” is used here in reference to the mind and means to set fast; literally, to turn in a certain direction. “To turn in a certain direction” reminds me of how, when our kids were dragging their feet to obey us, we would physically turn them by the shoulders in the direction of the task we had given them. God uses suffering to “turn” our minds to Him. The dictionary defines “confirm” as, to make something stronger or more certain; to cause someone to believe something more strongly. It’s through suffering that I learn and become more certain of God’s love, comfort and support, as well as His power to carry me through to the other side of suffering. Faith grows stronger through suffering. This reminds me of why James said to “count it all joy when you go through various trials…”.
God Himself will STRENGTHEN me
The verb “strengthen” is also used here in reference to the mind. It means to strengthen or confirm in one’s mind spiritual knowledge and power; to make one’s soul steadfast and strong. Think this through with me. If I never suffer, how would my belief that “God’s grace is sufficient” ever be confirmed in my mind? It’s the experience of suffering that puts that knowledge to work in power in my heart and mind. A faith that isn’t tested is a faith that can’t be trusted.
God Himself will ESTABLISH me
The word for “establish” means to lay a basis for; literally, to erect; figuratively, to consolidate. Webster defines “consolidate” as, to join together in one whole; to make firm and secure. Suffering tends to turn our focus to God, where firmness and security are found. When life is easy, we tend to get caught up in our list of “to-do’s” and our own busy plans. We often feel emotional stress as we navigate through the many scattered parts of our lives, trying to “do it all”. But then suffering hits, and it tends to stop us dead in our tracks. It forces us to stop. We suffer. We turn to God. He exchanges that long list for one thought, one purpose — HIM!
GOD NEVER WASTES PAIN!
“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you
will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”.
~~Philippians 1:6~~