DON’T BE SURPRISED
Peter encouraged the believers in Asia: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.” The NLT says: “Don’t be surprised.”
Do you wonder why you have to endure the trial you are experiencing? Your world is falling apart. Family relationships are estranged. You are ridiculed for your godly convictions. Dear mother, please don’t lose heart. This is not something strange. It is part of living in this fallen, hurting, and deceived society. We are in a fight against evil and it will not stop until Christ comes to bring vengeance upon His enemies and all evil into subjection to His sovereignty.
Every day we face the fight. But we don’t face it in defeat. We have the power of Christ living within us to overcome. The rewards are for the overcomers. Peter continues to tell the believers how to react to their reproaches and sufferings. His words are a little different to what we would expect.
1. REJOICE (verse 13). It is joy that comes as a result of God’s grace in our lives. We don’t rejoice because we feel like it, but because we know that God is in control. He has the bigger picture. He is working everything out for final good.
2. EXCEEDING JOY (verse 13). These words are “agalliao” in the Greek which comes from two roots words: “agan” meaning VERY MUCH; and “aliomai” meaning TO LEAP. It is the same word used in Matthew 5:11, 12: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be EXCEEDING GLAD: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
When going through trials and persecution we are to leap for joy. Not only a little skip. We are to leap VERY MUCH. Or in others words, “to leap and skip about with excessive or ecstatic joy and delight.” My, I sure have to change my attitude. What about you?
3. HAPPY (verse 14). This word means more than a superficial ”happy.” It is to be fully satisfied in whatever situation I am in (favorable or not), because Christ lives in me. Because Christ indwells me-- and nothing takes Him by surprise or gets Him in a state of tension--I do not have to cave in. And God says that when we are reproached for the name of Christ His glorious spirit rests upon us.
Keep your chin up. Look up to the Lord and trust in Him. He has everything that is happening to you in His control, even when it looks impossible.
Be blessed today,
Nancy Campbell
About the author
By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://aboverubies.org/