Peter encouraged his readers to expect suffering. He encouraged them to embrace suffering – to accept it willingly because it is God’s will for His people and because of the opportunities that it provides. The teaching of Scripture is that suffering for the sake of Christ is a gift of grace (Phil. 1:28) that brings great reward (Phil. 3:9-10, 1 Pet. 4:14). Peter also encouraged the suffering Christians to follow the example of the Lord Jesus and entrust themselves to God.
To entrust means to “hand something over to someone (usually a right or authority).” In entrusting ourselves to God, we give up our right and authority to do whatever we want to with our lives. We give up our right to do whatever necessary to make our lives turn out the way we want. We hand over the responsibility for the care, keeping, and outcome of our lives to God. 1 Peter 5:6 speaks of this attitude of submission. “Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God.” Humbling myself means giving up the right to determine the course of my life. It means choosing to believe that whatever circumstances God sends into my life are the best ones for me. I am experiencing my best life now. God sends the perfect mixture of toil, trouble, and blessing to work the highest good for me and the highest glory to Himself. To entrust means we give over the responsibility for the keeping of our physical body and eternal soul to God, and we commit ourselves to walking in obedience to Him no matter what the cost.
How can we entrust ourselves to God? Peter gives us many compelling reasons. First of all, our God cares for us personally (1 Pet. 5:7). We are not simply expendable pawns in His cosmic plan to establish His kingdom. He set his love on us when we were wandering like lost sheep. Christ bore our sins on the cross. He redeemed us with his precious blood. He adopted us as his beloved children. He is the God of all grace. He promises to strengthen and restore us. He has not left us. He is rescuing us even now in the midst of the worst suffering.
We can entrust ourselves to Him because He is faithful. God will do what He says. He promises that those who humble themselves under His hand will be exalted in due time. We will share in His glory. Our inheritance is sure. This suffering is only for a little while and then He will bring us into our full inheritance. (1 Pet. 1:3-5) We may face shame and humiliation at the hands of others. Our bodies may crumble apart under the curse of sin, but someday we will share in Christ’s glory.
We also can entrust ourselves to our faithful Creator because His hand is mighty. Power belongs to God. He is actively at work and nothing can stay His hand. No one can thwart His plans for His kingdom or his plans for our lives.
We can entrust ourselves to God’s care because He is the one who justly judges. We may suffer unjustly in this life at the hands of others, but we know that God does see. He does care. No one will get away with any evil they have committed. Human judges may show partiality but not the judge of the nations.
We can entrust ourselves to Him because we belong to Him. We are His chosen people. We are a people for his own possession. Like Israel, the church is God’s treasured possession. He has covenanted in His steadfast love to complete His work in us and bring us into His heavenly Kingdom. He will never desert us. Even the most stable human relationship may fail but God will not forsake his own.
And finally, we can entrust ourselves because our Savior entrusted Himself to His Father. He knew that His Father could be trusted. He knew that God’s eternal plan was better than temporal relief of suffering. Christ knew that the joy found in God’s eternal plan was better than any human plan for happiness and security. And we have seen the outcome of entrusting. Yes, Christ died a horrible death. But that was not the end of the story. God raised Him from the dead. Sin, Satan, and death were defeated. Eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, and fullness of joy spread to multitudes. God has used the worst evil of all eternity, the sacrificial death of the perfect Son of God, to bring about immeasurable good. The cross is irrefutable proof that our good, wise, powerful God can work all things for good, even our greatest sorrows and pains.
Lord, help us in the midst of suffering, to follow the example of our Savior and entrust ourselves to your care.
Kim Anderson
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