Suffering unjustly

1 Pet. 2:19-20

For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

 

How hard is this! It's bad enough to suffer when I deserve it, but to suffer unjustly without complaining is a God-thing! How else except through grace! Perhaps that is why it is called a gracious thing.

 

I think back to David in the Psalms. When he suffered unjustly, he cried out to God for deliverance and for the heavy to come down on his persecutors. Yet he endured  and trusted in what God had for him. What about Daniel spending the night with the lions? How did Daniel pray? It doesn't say, but the next morning Daniel told the king that God had sent angels to shut the mouths of the lions.They did not hurt him because he was found blameless before God. Daniel trusted in God implicitly. Whether he was delivered or not didn't matter, his trust was securely in God.

 

Then I think of Mary when the angel came to her telling her of the birth of Jesus. How hard to understand! How hard to live out the reality! She was a young unmarried woman who was pregnant with the Son of God. Who would believe that? Yet her immediate response was, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word. Finally I think of Jesus, her son. He was the ultimate example of suffering unjustly. Misunderstood...Doubted...brutalized and crucified all for my sin, and the sin of all mankind. It was nothing that He had done. He has given me the example, and I must follow in His footsteps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.

 

By His wounds I have been healed. For I was straying like a sheep, but now I have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul. Praise God!

 

Father,

How amazing! What great love! My heart is filled with thankfulness and awe. What I suffer is so piddly compared to the suffering of Your son. Give me strength and grace to follow in His footsteps.

In His holy Name,

Amen