"...those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good." (I Peter 4:19)
Suffering never seems "fair," and bad things do happen to good people. I haven't ever particularly liked either fact, but there you are.
The verse above has brought strength and consolation to my heart many times before now in facing hard, seemingly unchanging, "hopeless" circumstances. It is the sterling advice that the Apostle Peter gave to the members of his little Roman underground church as they were facing unparalleled persecution and unending, unrelenting suffering both as ordinary people and also as those whom others would one day look up to as examples of what to do when faced with that same kind of suffering.
Peter gave his followers just two things to do. (I always have thought that when you're really suffering, two things may be all one can remember, so it has always seemed quite practical to me that Peter would boil it down to only two.) Not very long after dictating these words to be read in public assembly, Peter had a chance to put them into personal practice as he faced the suffering of his own end -- dying crucified upside down as a public spectacle. Peter was able to declare these words with such authority because he had watched Jesus live them out in HIS own life and death.
"So, then," Peter says after having reminded his friends that it is not only Christians who suffer, but that there is a particular meaning believers can find in the middle of their sufferings, "those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good." (I Peter 4:19)
That's what I pray that you will be able to do: (1) commit yourself and all your disappointments and all your heaviness of heart and all your suffering to the One who created you and Who loves you dearly -- especially while you're suffering and disappointed and heavy-hearted, and (2) do all the good He daily gives you to do, relying heavily on His power to get it done.
I don't think it gets any better than that for any of us. This is the life of faith. The "victorious Christian life" looks exactly like this.
Feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments.
