Nothing is Wasted

"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." -1 Peter 5.10

God is at work in and through the suffering we face. We will suffer, but it is temporary. God gives grace so that we can overcome the suffering we face, and He has given us hope because we are called to share in the glory of Christ for eternity. However, there is more to this, God Himself is at work.

God will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish us.

Perfect- katartizō, To mend what is broken and make it complet, equipping it for service and make us what we were intended to be.

Confirm- stērizō, To make stable and firm, rendering constant strength.

Strengthen- sthenoō, To make one strong in their soul.

Establish- themelioō To lay a foundation and make stable.

This is what God is doing in times of suffering. God is working in suffering to bring healing and perfect His work. Think about the forging of a Katana (I won't get started on the process because I'll talk about it in full detail) it's a long and tedious task, but it results in the perfect blade.

God is working to confirm us. Suffering shows us what we are made of, what we can handle, and it builds our faith and trust in God. I'm thinking about Navy SEAL training, again, I won't go into the details from what I've learned, but they push you to the extreme so you learn to push through everything.

God is working to strengthen us. This is an inward strength, grit and resilience that refuses to give up. Think about the Spartans at Thermopylae, or the defenders of the Alamo. They faced overwhelmingly impossible odds, but they knew that they were fighting for something bigger than themselves and this inward strength gave them the courage to fight, even if it meant death.

God is working to lay establish us. He is laying a foundation through our suffering, and it is on this foundation that something amazing can be built on. Out of our deepest pain comes our greatest impact.

God is at work, even if He seems to be silent, He is not absent or inactive. God is at work, and it is in our suffering that He does the most. Nothing is wasted with God.


Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11

TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!