Hope in the Midst of Conflict

Today, if you are here and going through some struggles, then I pray that this will bring encouragement into your life. There is nothing better than to look into the Word of God and see what He has to say, because He is the ultimate authority, and people tend to fail us a lot.

So we will be reading out of . (Read Text)

1 Peter 5:6-11

1 Peter 5:6–11 NKJV

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

So, from reading this passage one common phrase sticks out to me, and that is, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” The typical response you get from people trying to encourage you is this verse telling you to give everything to God. Which is always a good idea. But what I want to point out is that God is our hope. If you look at this passage, it seems like a lot of “do this, and do that.” But what we sometimes fail to see is what God does for us. God is so faithful to us that we tend to take it for granted a lot of the time.

So let’s dive into this passage a little at a time. Verses 6 & 7 say, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

What we see here is a command followed by a blessing. God commands us to have humility. Having humility means to not be arrogant, or to have an attitude of seeing yourself as lower. Not in the sense that you are unimportant, but recognizing that you are not “all that,” especially in comparison to God. If we continue in the verse the next thing we see are the words, “under the mighty hand of God.” Guys, God is so much bigger than us that we can’t even compare to His greatness. God is not slack to give us His blessings, though. Vs. 6 - “That He may exalt you in due time.” Just have patience. By being humble God is glorified. Then we come to the typical portion of “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” In context, this verse gives us hope. Because God is so strong and mighty, He can take care of your every need. You are His creation. Who doesn’t love something that they have created with their own hands?

In it says:

The New King James Version Chapter 6

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

According to this passage, you mean a lot to God, and I think it goes perfectly with the “why can we trust God?” question. It’s because He provides for your every need.

Next in our text it says in verses 8 & 9 - “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”

Again, the first thing we see is a command. But this command is of a little bit of a different nature. It says, “Be sober, be vigilant.” Now, you may ask, “What does sober and vigilant mean? Well, good question. Sober, in this case does not mean to not be drunk, but instead it means to have self-control. Vigilant, then, means to be ever awake and alert. So, when you put these two commands together it means to have self-control, and to be aware of your surroundings. So, why should we do this? Look in the text. It gives you the answer. “Because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” So, this command is a command of protection. It’s God saying, “Hey, do this because Satan is going to try to sneak up on you, so be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.” God cares so much for us that He gives us these kinds of commands for our own good.

One other thing I want to highlight in this section is the phrase, “knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” Take heart. You are not alone! Not only is God there, but when you feel like you can’t feel Him there with you, you can just know that there are a lot of other people out there facing conflicts of their own, and you can lift each other up! And the thing is, Satan delights in the fact that we get torn down and lose hope in God, and even lose hope in our own life. Don’t let him have the victory, instead have your own victory and tell Satan that He’s not going to get the best of you today. I know our problems can be more than just attacks from Satan, but the sad truth is that we live in a fallen world, and we get stuck in the cross-fire. It’s the consequence that all people have to face for all of their earthly life.

But guess what?! There is a huge “But” in this passage. If you look at the passage you will realize that it is separated by the word, “but.” This little word holds the key to hope. The first half of the passage give us commands and warnings, BUT the second half is all about what God has done, is doing, and will do for you.

Verse 10 & 11 say, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

First of all it is important to remember that God is full of grace. reminds us that “… by grace you have been saved.” Those of us who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior can have hope in the fact that we will one day be in heaven with God. Only in His timing of course, because it is God who gave your life, and it is only by His authority that it can be taken away. Next in the verse there is the phrase, “after you have suffered a while.” Now this little part is not to be taken negatively. Instead, have hope. A very common statement in the bible is, “and it came to pass.” In whatever season you are in your life, it will come to pass. Maybe not as fast as you want it to, but God can use this part of your life for accomplish a higher purpose. Maybe sometime down the road you can encourage someone who has gone through the same things you have gone through, and then be a living example of hope in their life.

Next in the verse it says that God will, “perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” This means that He will mend you. He will make you steady. He will make you strong. And He will ground you and give you a foundation. All this He says He will do for you. That’s a promise. Why would you not trust the God who has put the very breath in your lungs, and provided for your every need?

So, take heart, and have hope. God is walking with you and providing for you. Whatever path God leads you on there is going to be a valley. But just remember that it will all come to pass.

The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982. Print.