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 fun; but it can forward the genuine progress of the saints of God’s true church. Suffering has a cleansing effect on our souls; and it draws us back to Christ. If 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 our Heav-enly Father.
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 us to sin under a pretense of relig-ion. He is most to be feared when he transforms himself into an angel of light.” —Thomas Watson, in, "All Things for Good"]
