Resting in grace

Two blogs in one day. Pretty unusual, but I wrote something for my church, and I figured I might as well share it here as well.

You know it’s easy as we’re facing trials and struggles in our lives to think, “I have to get through this myself! I have to do all I can to make it through these problems.”

But it strikes me that that’s not how God wants us to live. Peter says,

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you. (I Peter 5:6-7)

Some English versions separate verses 6-7, but it’s really just one thought. In short, “Don’t think you have to solve all your problems on your own. Humble yourself. Admit that you can’t make it without God. Ask for his help. And he will lift you up because he cares for you.”

This doesn’t mean that we just “Let go and let God.” Peter calls us to resist Satan and stand firm in our faith. (8-9) But we are to do so in God’s strength, not ours.

And then Peter says,

Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little. (10)

God allows us to struggle sometimes, to suffer. But by the same grace that saves us and will bring us into his eternal kingdom, he will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support us.

So never think you have to fight through your struggles on your own. Humble yourself. Cast your cares on him. And rest in his grace.