Those who originally read 1 Peter
5:10 must have been very encouraged to read: “After you have suffered a little
while, the God of all grace, who had called you to his eternal glory in Christ,
will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” This is the only
place in the New Testament where God is addressed as the “God of all grace.”
Our God is the source of all grace and divine power, supplying help to his
children for every need and occasion. Peter assures these persecuted believers
that God will:
- restore them in the areas where they break down and fail;
- confirm them, giving them the inflexibility and support needed to withstand the temptations to deny him without toppling;
- strengthen them to resist Satan and to endure even to the point of death without falling; and
- establish them, giving the believers a firm foundation so that they will not be swept away.
Though Satan seeks to destroy, God takes his actions and turns them in to the means by which he graciously develops his character into the lives of his people. Grace is seen as God’s work of transforming his children through persecution and suffering into a sacrificial giver to others (just as he is), equipping them to be involved in the cause of Christ and the gospel.
Just as there was no glory without Christ’s suffering, so it is with his people. Suffering never thwarts God’s purposes. Indeed, God knows no other formula of accomplishing his purpose of self-sacrifice and self-giving. And he wants to weave his story in to our story, recreating us as cross-carrying disciples of the message of the gospel.
-Glenn Penner and Bernie Daniel
