Read: 1 Peter 4:12-19
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial. (v. 12)
When I first got my driver’s license, my husband—then fiancé—taught me how to drive in the snow. He told me not to be surprised if I skidded on a snowy road and promised me that if I was prepared and if I steered into the sliding, I’d be safe. Skidding on a slippery road happens. We just need to be prepared. In the same way, we should prepare for suffering.
In other words, when suffering shows up in this life, Peter would have us be ready. Instead of responding to suffering with shock and surprise, responding with a smile saying, “Ah, I’ve been expecting you,” shows we’re entrusting ourselves into the hands of God. We are to welcome trials with gratitude and thanksgiving in our hearts. God uses trials to serve us, to prove the authenticity of our faith. He purifies us. He burns off things that are weighing us down so we move from fear and doubt in our suffering to faith and joy in it.
God brings out our best qualities when the curtain is drawn and the light of human joy has been shut out. He takes us into the darkroom in order to develop us into the image of Christ. We’re to expect suffering and rejoice in it, to examine our lives according to the will of God (v. 19). God’s the supreme ruler and has a purpose and design. What do you do? You say, “Lord, I trust you.”
As you pray, ask God how you can steer yourself into his arms.
Ariana D. Den Bleyker is a Pittsburgh native currently residing in New York’s Hudson Valley. She is the author of two devotional poetry collections,To Be Held by the LightandWaking in the Light. She is an ordained deacon in the Reformed Church of America.
