We love to cling to this little verse in I Peter that is quoted in the photo above but thereโs context to this verse we dare not ignore.
๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ญ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ: ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ; ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต; ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ: ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด, ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต, ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ, ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ.
(I Peter 2:6-11)
From reading this verse in context we know that we must humble ourselves (which evidences itself through our submission to Godโs will and our obedience to His Word) and we must dedicate ourselves to being sober and vigilant, understanding that we have a very real enemy who seeks to devour us whom we need to resist. We also see here that we can expect some suffering (โafter ye have suffered a whileโ).
We canโt rip a verse out of context and claim its promises without understanding Godโs complete thought regarding that promise.
There have been a lot of things going on in our lives here in my world and, if I am honest, I feel just a bit numb. Yesterday, my husband and I celebrated 36 years of marriage and I told him I think weโve had more to work through and process in 2024 than weโve had altogether in our entire 35 years previously. Not really, but itโs been quite a year for us.
Even the last two days were filled with an unexpected trial as we faced some unexpected circumstances that came flying at our family rather out of the blue.
But hereโs the thingโฆ
Godโs care was so evident in the midst of it and through it all. His mercies were abundant and His care so obvious.
So what does Godโs care look like? Does it eliminate all our financial woes, relationship struggles, illnesses, death, and all of the other trials and troubles we face? Of course not. These things happen to us all in one way or another. We live in a fallen world.
But we are not forsaken in the midst of them. And thatโs the key.
However, we must understand that this promise is only for those who live humbly before God. They are for those who are willing to submit to and obey Him. The promise is for those who accept what they cannot change.
The pain is still there, the fear and the anxiety still loom over our heads. But, in the midst of them, God is with us.
Iโve written this before but I was struck so profoundly by something Elizabeth Elliot said many years ago: With acceptance comes peace.
As long as we are fighting against God, we will have no peace and we will not feel nor notice His care.
But when we surrender our will to His, these things become so obvious we cannot imagine how we missed them.
My life has been an ongoing project of learning to surrender to God when I just donโt want to. Sometimes this comes easily. Many times itโs a real struggle. I want to cry โthis isnโt fair!โ Or โwhy me?โ more often than not. I have not learned to โinstantlyโ surrender. But I do know that this is what God desires of His children. I do know that this is a condition for those who will reap the reward of His generous promises of peace and joy in the midst of trials.
Life is not easy. And we are told in scripture we will suffer. But we are also told that it is just for a while. This is not our eternity. This is not our forever.
As we humble ourselves, as we are sober and vigilant, as we resist the devilโฆthen we know that God will not leave us in a place of suffering but He will make us perfect, establish us, strengthen us, and settle us. He has promised. All glory and dominion are His. He has the power to fulfill His Word and He will do it.
Oh, how I love Godโs Word. It has such a grounding effect and helps us find perspective when the world just doesnโt make sense. But we must read and study it in context. We dare not pull verses out of context or we will find ourselves disillusioned and untrusting of God and His Word.
May we march on, trusting our Heavenly Father with faith in His Word, as we wait for the appearance of our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Oh how I love Godโs Word! Thank you for encouraging us to read it in context. As we apply that along with the literal, grammatical, and historical method of study, we can best understand the riches of His Word and guard against confusion and misinterpretation.
Happy blessed anniversary, dear soldiers of the Old Rugged Cross! ๐
I pray for many more years to come! ๐๐น๐
The Lord Jesus promised than with the problem Heโs bringing us all the solution too if weโre TRUSTING and OBEYING HIM!
Start counting all your blessings!
Iโm sure about how many it can be!
May the Lordโs will be done in our lives!
May the Lord Jesus Christ come soon!
I pray!
In Christ,
Cristina F.