17-19: Learn and love these words of comfort and encouragement because the time has come for judgment, and it will begin with the house of God. Peter is, in effect, summing up the reason for this letter to the dispersed. More than a simple 'hold fast,' he confirms that all suffering has purpose. Our God is the great Author of all life. This means our lives are a story. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end. There is rising action, falling action, climax and denouement. As with any story worth reading, there is tension throughout, and a wedding at the end. And as any good story shows, the tension is the very element that makes the wedding so satisfying. As characters in God's story, we must learn to read the events around us as elements of His story. Where there is tension, we find allusion to The Fall. And where there is resolve, we find foreshadowing of the Great Restoration. In the middle we find our lives, bobbing on the stream between the banks of tension and resolve, from Fall to Restoration. We sin, we stumble, we suffer. God forgives, God restores, God exalts. More than that, our Father the Author writes in the dark parts, writes in the tension with purpose and intent. As fallen creatures we are like gold that is filled with imperfections. The tension in our story, the pain and suffering, the trials and hardships, these are the fires of the refiners forge. Without them the story goes nowhere, and the gold remains drossy. Through the trials we travel, sometimes page after page, sometimes chapter after chapter. But if we have read the story rightly, we know that no pain is without purpose, there is no tension without resolve.
What is this purpose you speak of? What good can possibly come from this? Here we must be sensitive because living in this fallen world truly is difficult. Dealing with fallen people day after day gets tiresome. Constantly falling into our own petty sins is infuriating. On top of that our fallen natures are continually crying out in despair at the seeming purposelessness of it all. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. In fact they are new every single morning. Great is the faithfulness of our God. Great is the faithfulness of our God. First, this must be where our thoughts dwell. Let your mind dwell on truth. These things are true: God is sovereign over all things. All things means all things. God is a Father who desperately loves His creation. We are His creation. God has decreed from before time began, every event of our lives. This means even the tension-filled hard parts. God has a purpose in telling His story the way He does. His purpose is twofold: All things are for His glory, and for our good. Glory we get, mostly, but for our good? How is this trial for my good? If this is our response the first question we should ask ourselves is, by what standard are we declaring something good? Is our own personal comfort the standard? Or is God's glory the standard. If the first is true, then I dare say we will never achieve 'good' as long as we live. Living in a fallen world has its downsides. Our own personal comfort will forever be plagued with sickness, external pressures, and eventually death. But if God's glory is our standard, then everything is found to be for our good. Our God knows our needs better than we do. He knows our true needs because He knows our true end. What you need depends a great deal on where you are going. God has glory in mind for us. He alone knows what it takes to bear the weight of that eternal glory. Therefore He is in the process of training us. The tension we experience in our life is just that, training. We are being taught how to trust our God. Do we see every minute of every day as a gift from the hand of a Father who loves us? Including the hard minutes? Do we honor God as God, and give Him thanks in and for every one of those long and hard minutes? Do we recognize that we have no right to the reins, our lives not being our own? I would venture to guess not always. Thus the need for training. God wants to prepare us. And so, not to make light of our sufferings, this whole world is, in a way, training wheels. When we die, the training wheels come off. When we die, we get to see what bikes were for.
Someone might shout from the back row, "It's all very good for you to say these things, but you don't know how hard this trial is," or "You don't know how long I've been suffering." And they would be absolutely right. I don't know. I only really know the trials and hardships the great Author has written into my story. I can relate only as far as our pains are similar. But here is the crux of our comfort. Jesus does. Jesus knows every bit of your pain. He knows every hour of your suffering. He has numbered everyone of your tears. More than that He has born the brunt of it for you. On the cross Jesus not only took upon Himself our sin and the wrath we deserved. He bore our griefs and our sorrows as well. When you weep, He weeps. When you are wronged, He is wronged. When you hurt, He holds you with nail-pierced hands. So look to Jesus when you suffer. Look to Jesus when you hurt. You'll find in Him One who knows your pain.
This is the thrust of Peter's entire letter. In these verses he is saying that purification begins with God's own people. The refiners fire burns hottest where the gold is most precious. We feel the heat, but we do not despair, for we look forward to a better country, our own country. But if we have the hope of glory, and still suffer the way we do, then what must it be like for those who do not obey the gospel? To suffer in this world without hope, without peace, this must be terrifying. Twice Peter asks this question, what will be the outcome of the ungodly and the sinner? From the eternal perspective, eternal destruction awaits the wicked. But from our own earthly perspective, the hope of the gospel is for all peoples, all tribes, all nations. I believe Peter is giving even more purpose to our pain here by showing us the ripe harvest, not yet gathered in. We suffer, and are made ready for glory it is true. But we also suffer and are suddenly and uniquely equipped to minister to others who are suffering in the same way we are. We suffer, but with hope. Others suffer in similar ways without the hope of Jesus. I believe Peter's purpose here is to say, "Yes you are suffering. Yes it hurts. It is true. But you trust in the God of your suffering. You have been given the peace that trumps the pain. Therefore get off your duff, and help your fellow creature. Share with them the hope you have been given. Share with them Jesus." Again, I don't wish to make light of the sufferings of this life. I know too well the pain that strikes deep, the crying out, "Why?", the doubts that bring into question the goodness of God. But the answer really is the Gospel. The answer always is the Gospel. So look away from self. Look to the needs of others. Just as Jesus did on the cross. See your suffering as a new shiny tool the good Lord has put in your toolbox. You have the tools. Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations. Go and build God's house.
Peter concludes His thoughts on this theme with the simple encouragement to trust. If all else fails, trust that God knows what He is doing. Trust that He knows the end from the beginning. Trust that He knows every hair on your head, and the lifespan of each of them. He also knows when each one will turn grey, whether prematurely or not. Trust that He is a good story teller. Trust that your story is worth living, no matter how hard it is, because it reveals the goodness and beauty of our God. Trust that simple obedience cannot help but bear fruit. Trust that a life lived in the presence of God is its own reward.
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