1 Peter 5:8-14: a reflection

8Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings. 10But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 12Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand. 13She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you. So does Mark, my son. 14Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to all of you who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Peter, closing his letter to suffering believers, gives both a warning and a promise. The warning: Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith. And then the promise: after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Alert resistance now, and God's own strengthening after a bounded season of suffering.

Notice the two things Peter holds together. First, the reality of an adversary: the devil prowls, seeking to devour, and is to be resisted, firm in faith, with sober watchfulness. The Christian life includes real opposition, and we are called to stand against it. But second, and reassuringly, Peter frames the suffering as bounded, after you have suffered a little while, and promises that God himself, the God of all grace, will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish his people through and after it. The suffering has a limit; God's strengthening is sure.

Both are worth holding. Do not be naive about the adversary; be watchful and resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that others are undergoing the same struggle. But do not be crushed by the suffering, as though it were endless or would undo you. It is for a little while, and beyond it, the God of all grace himself will restore and strengthen and settle you. When you are suffering and under attack, resist the enemy firmly, and rest in the promise: after a little while, God himself will strengthen and establish you.

Lord, Peter warns that my adversary prowls like a roaring lion, and calls me to be watchful and resist him, firm in faith. But he also promises that after I have suffered a little while, you, the God of all grace, will yourself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish me. Help me not to be naive about the enemy, but to stand against him. And when I suffer, keep me from despair; remind me it is for a little while, and that you yourself will strengthen and settle me. Hold me firm, and restore me by your grace.