1 Peter 4:12-13

Devotional Thoughts

By Gary Wilkerson

God’s favor follows you! This is not just a phrase to encourage you, it’s a fact based on passage after passage of Scripture. Yet very few in the church live as if this is true.

You may have marital struggles and wonder if the tension with your spouse will ever turn around. Or you may suffer from depression and wonder if it will ever lift so that you can feel the favor of God again. Perhaps you have a prodigal child and wonder if he will ever return to faith. Or maybe you have a sibling who is an addict and wonder if she will ever be free from her bondage after years of indulging her habit.

I can guarantee you no Christian ever pictured himself being in seasons like these. No one ever imagined enduring hardships that outweigh the comfort they feel from God. Yet Peter tells us we are not to think that such trials are unusual: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

If you are in the midst of an excruciating season of life, I have a sure word for you: Hold on! The Lord is not finished with you. You may think you are alone in your predicament, but all along God has been storing up blessings for you that you never dreamed of. As Peter states, his glory is going to be revealed through your trial.