Today's encouragement comes from 1 Peter 4:19, where we read these words:
"Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator."Suffering is never enjoyable; but it can forward the genuine progress of Christ-loving saints. It has a sanctifying effect on the soul; and it draws us back to our Heavenly Father. Since we are going to have to suffer anyway, let us do so for doing good, or for insisting on God's ways. "Commit[ting our] souls" to God means that we do what is right, and leave the consequences with the Lord.
It is interesting that Peter refers to the Lord as a faithful "Creator," at the end of this verse—rather than a Redeemer. God's creation covers everything in the universe: those things that positively affect our obedience, and those things that "negatively" affect it.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Satan tempts to sin under a pretense of religion. He is most to be feared when he transforms himself into an angel of light.”
—Thomas Watson, in, "All Things for Good"]
