1 Peter 5:6-11 Strength

1 Peter 5:6-11 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

6Therefore humble yourselves under God’s powerful hand so that he may lift you up at the appointed time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 8Have sound judgment. Be alert. Your adversary, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him by being firm in the faith. You know that the same kinds of sufferings are being laid on your brotherhood all over the world.

10After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you. 11To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

Strength

I.

What does it mean to have strength? Maybe my grandfather knew. He was born in Dakota Territory in 1886—before South Dakota was a state. Later—in 1910—he served as a pastor in western South Dakota to 13 congregations. They would hold worship services whenever he could get to them by train or with his horse and wagon. No doubt that took some strength. Just surviving in those days took strength and resolve.

Have you seen many photographs from those days? The people look old for their ages, if you compare them with how people look today. Most of them look drawn and worn and tired. At the same time, they stand or sit ramrod straight. Somehow I don’t think it was only because they had to hold perfectly still while the photo was being taken. They seem to have resolve—they are resolved to survive—and thrive—despite the odds. They look proud of their accomplishments. Proud of their strength.

A term was coined for those hardy pioneers: rugged individualism. Are you a rugged individualist? Are you proud of your strength? Do you have the same can-do attitude of the pioneer generations that came before you?

II.

Peter starts today’s Second Reading by saying: “Therefore humble yourselves...” (1 Peter 5:6, EHV). Remember, any time you see a word like “therefore” in the Bible, it is good to look at what has come before.

In the verse before our text, Peter quotes Proverbs 3:34, and says: “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5, EHV). To be proud is to place yourself in opposition to God. God opposes the proud.

Perhaps pride in your own strength means that you are missing something. Not even the most hardy pioneer was totally self-sufficient. People gathered together with neighbors and friends when it was time to build a house or a barn or a church. Individuals—even rugged individuals—aren’t strong enough or skilled enough to accomplish absolutely everything on their own.

Peter mentions “anxiety” (1 Peter 5:7, EHV). Even rugged pioneers out on the plains had anxiety—about the weather, about wild animals, about people with nefarious intentions, about injury far from any possible medical attention. Peter wrote about anxiety because it is an issue common to people from every generation. Some of the things we are anxious about might be different from those of the past, but many are the same.

There is one anxiety that is more intense than whether you will have enough money to retire, or whether your paycheck will meet the bills as the cost of everything seems to go up. “Your adversary, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8, EHV).

Don’t be proud in your strength of character when it comes to the Devil. Bible history is filled with examples of believers who seemed to have every advantage.

Adam and Eve spoke with God on a regular basis before sin was ever present in the world. Yet, when confronted directly by the Devil, in his snake disguise, couldn’t seem to resist temptation.

Moses met personally with God and received from God’s own hand his laws for the people, yet Moses was not obedient to God 100% of the time. His disobedience kept him from being allowed to enter the Promised Land, even after leading God’s people for 40 years.

King David had been blessed by God’s hand, yet he couldn’t keep his eyes in the right place and stole the wife of one of his soldiers. Then he gave the command that would make sure that soldier would be killed in battle so he could claim Bathsheba as his own.

The list goes on and on, and even includes Peter, who wrote this letter. Peter was brash and bold about his own strength of character when sitting in the comfortable presence of Jesus and the other disciples. But when he found himself lurking around the courtyards when Jesus was on trial, he couldn’t bring himself even to admit he knew Jesus at all.

Peter knew from personal experience when he warned against the Devil, that roaring lion. He knew that even the strongest faith could be shaken.

III.

How do you fight the Devil? Peter says: “Resist him by being firm in the faith” (1 Peter 5:9, EHV).

The only One who did successfully resist the Devil was the Lord Jesus. He did it as our substitute. He resisted again and again as the Devil threw everything he had at him. He resisted all the way to the cross, where God abandoned Jesus to suffer hell for every sin.

The same Peter who failed multiple times in his life to be firm in his faith says to resist the Devil by being firm in the faith. “Humble yourselves under God’s powerful hand so that he may lift you up at the appointed time” (1 Peter 5:6, EHV). Proud Peter once asked Jesus if he could walk out to Jesus on the surface of the lake. He got overconfident and looked to his own strength. Soon he noticed the waves and heard the rushing wind and panicked. He began to sink, until he humbled himself and looked in faith to Jesus—the only One who could save him.

It is God’s powerful hand that will lift you up, not your own strength. When Peter tells us to resist the temptations of the Devil in that later verse by being firm in the faith, he is encouraging the humility of faith that realizes that it is God’s power that will save you, even from the dangerous enemy who wants to devour you.

“At the appointed time,” Peter concludes. Sometimes Peter tried to appoint the times. He was the one who cut off the soldier’s ear in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas and his cronies were putting Jesus under arrest.

Now Peter was older. He had learned all kinds of valuable lessons about many things. God has his own timing. The strength of God is so much greater than any rugged individualism.

Wait for God’s appointed time and rely on God’s strength. That’s how Peter could say: “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7, EHV). Anxious moments aren’t going away, but God has promised to never leave us or forsake us. “He cares for you,” Peter assures us.

IV.

“Have sound judgment. Be alert” (1 Peter 5:8, EHV). This is your attitude in Christian faith as you face your adversary, the Devil. Jesus has won your victory, and the Holy Spirit has given you the faith that brings God’s strength to resist all the Devil’s attacks.

“After you have suffered a little while...” (1 Peter 5:10, EHV). The persecutions you face for being a Christian, the anxiety you deal with from living in the world, all the sicknesses and sorrows and everything else that seem to be overwhelming...they are only suffering for a little while. Even the anxiety and the pain and the suffering that lasts a lifetime is “a little while.”

After that little while, at God’s appointed time, whenever that may be: “The God of all grace, who called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you” (1 Peter 5:10, EHV). Look at the blessings Peter says are piled up for you!

God will restore you. Just like a piece of furniture that is battered and broken, God will restore you. The home in paradise with God that was lost by Adam and Eve will be restored because you have been called into eternal glory in Christ Jesus.

God will establish you. Anxiety robs you of confidence, but God will establish confidence in you again.

He will strengthen you. Not with your own kind of strength—not with the strength that trusts in your own abilities and rugged individualism, but the real strength that comes from God’s Word.

He will support you. The Greek word indicates laying a foundation. The foundation of your faith in and on Christ Jesus gives you the kind of foundation that can withstand all the storms of the Devil that blast against you.

“To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 5:11, EHV).

God is the place where all power—all strength resides. Many of the pioneers in those old photos found their strength in the Lord. I know that was the case for my grandparents as they worked through all the hardships of an unsettled land.

God is always where all the strength resides. He is your strength. Trust in him. Lean on him when you cast your anxieties on him. Wait for him to lift you up at his appointed time. He cares for you. Amen.