Getting a Grip in this Pandemic . . . Pressing into 1 Peter 5

Brothers and sisters, we all need to get a grip!

Our God owes us nothing! Absolutely zip! As Americans, as His children, as ____________ (you fill in the blank with whatever you may think you are entitled to).

All is pure gift! Absolute grace! Amazingly unconditional love!

And He certainly doesn’t consider us Americans (because we are Americans) to be exempt from sacrifice and suffering. He doesn’t say we can call all our own shots because we are the land of the free, in contrast to the rest of the world.

So let me just share a passage of Scripture that has been one I have parked on for various reasons over the years in my journey into aging. And then I’d like to show you what has recently jumped out at me that can help us as God’s children, sons and daughters of the King, have perspective in this very distressing and unsettling time.

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 
9 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. 
10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. 
11 To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

I have been struck by the highlighted phrase: “knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”

We Americans (including American Christians) are not exempt from suffering “the same suffering” that brothers and sisters have suffered in the past and are indeed suffering right now in other places of the world.

And who is the enemy behind it all? The enemy of our souls, the devil. God says, “Resist HIM, firm in our faith,” but only after we have “humbled ourselves before God, so HE can lift us up at the proper time…casting all our anxiety on HIM, because HE cares for us!”

So friends, spend some time right here. How you and I handle any circumstance of life is really about God and you, God and me. This is nothing new for us believers . . . it’s just different!

But our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever! Amen.