July 24.
Survive Suffering

1 Peter 2:19

For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

I am convinced that many saved people are faced with situations that they really don’t know how to handle. I see over and over again, believers filled with panic, crying, disturbed, baffled, walking the floor, losing sleep, losing appetites, all because you have been unjustly treated. You constantly ask yourself, why me? But if you would check the record, it has always happened. A saint in the Bible by the name of Abel was carried to the field by his brother, Cain, and was killed there although he had done nothing wrong. You remember Saul who set out to destroy David. You remember Naboth, an innocent bystander who was killed by Jezebel. You remember that Jezebel even ran the prophet Elijah out of town. John the Baptist was beheaded by not yielding to temptation. He only spoke and said to Herod, “It’s wrong. It’s wrong to have your brother’s wife.” You do remember the apostle Paul who by living a sanctified life was beheaded on a Nero’s chopping block. We think of Stephen, the deacon, who was full of the Holy Ghost but stoned to death merely for telling the truth. You remember Jesus? He was born in a stable. They took him and had a kangaroo court set up against him. They crucified him on a hill called Calvary. So if other people were required to suffer, how about you, how about myself?

Suffering comes in many forms. Think it not strange when you are lied about. To be honest, you might think it strange if it doesn’t happen because the Bible says in Matthew 5:11-12 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Instead you should Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. The world will persecute God’s servants.