Peter the apostle has asked
the “scattered” Christians, “if the righteous
scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”,
and in chapter four and verse nineteen of his letter, Peter shared
concerning “them that suffer according to the will of God”
where we read:
Wherefore let them that
suffer according to the will of God commit
the keeping of their
souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful
Creator.
The
verse begins, “Wherefore let them that suffer according
to the will of God...” Peter
began with the word, “Wherefore” which
means “insomuch that, so then and therefore”, and every time we
see a “wherefore”
in scriptures, we should look at the reason it is “there-for”. In
this case Peter wrote, “let them”
which means “also, even, indeed be affected or have been affected,
to feel, have a sensible experience, to undergo” “that
suffer” or “are vexed, with
passion and feel in a bad or sick plight” “according
to” or “down from, through
out, toward and along” “the will”
which means “desire, pleasure and what one wishes or has determined
shall be done” “of God”
which refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised
of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit”.
The
verse goes on to say, “... commit the keeping of their
souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful
Creator.” Peter continued with
the word, “commit the keeping” or
“set before, commend, put forth and allege” “of their
souls” which refers to “the
suffering ones vital force which animates the body and shows itself
in breathing” “to him”
or “in God” “in well doing”
which means “a course of right action and virtue”, “as
unto a faithful” which means
“trusty, worthy of trust and can be relied upon”
“Creator” which refers to
“founder and author of all things”. Should the Christians be
“suffering”, they
were to “commend” themselves to God whom Peter said would “keep
their souls”.
When
we meditate upon these words of Peter, we understand that those who
“suffer” are to
“commit”
themselves to Almighty God, and the promise is that he will “keep”
their lives and “souls”
as they obey the course of right action. Perhaps we are going through
“suffering” as we
read Peter's words. If so, let us “commend ourselves” to the Lord
Jesus who will “keep”
that which we have committed to Him.
Next
time we begin the final chapter of Peter's letter and see what he has
to say to “elders”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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