Most of us have prayed a version of this: God, get me out of this situation. We have all done it. After a year or two walking with Christ, we start to notice something. He more often walks us through hard things than removes them.
Why?
Because God is more interested in your holiness than your happiness.
That was the heart of Chris Kellermeyer's sermon last Sunday from 1 Peter 2:18-25. Peter is writing to a church scattered across what we would call modern-day Turkey. They are believers under unjust suffering. Some are first-century domestic slaves. Their masters can be cruel. And Peter does not tell them to escape. He tells them how to live faithfully in the middle of it.
The passage applies more broadly than slavery. Peter is writing about every human institution where you might suffer for doing what is right. Work. Family. Government. Church. Anywhere a Christian might be treated unjustly for the name of Jesus.
Suffering is not a sign that God has left
Paul put it plainly in 2 Timothy 3:12. "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." That is not a worst-case scenario. That is the baseline. If we are never experiencing any cost for following Jesus, we should ask whether we are following Him.
So when the hard thing comes, do not read it as evidence that God is angry, or that you have done something wrong. It may just be evidence that you are walking with Christ.
Faith is what you do after you have prayed
"This is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly" (1 Peter 2:19). That word "sorrow" carries more weight in the original. Pain. Grief. Affliction. The full thing.
Faith is not only believing God for a way out. Faith is also leaning on Him after you have made your petition and the situation has not changed. We make our petition, then we trust Him with the answer He provides. Even when we have no idea how this will turn out.
Three things anchor you when the answer is not what you wanted.
God sees everything. Whatever you are going through, He sees it. Even the things you would rather He not see.
God judges perfectly. We try to, and sometimes we get it right. He always does.
God will set all things right in His timing, not ours. Maybe not in this life. But nothing will be left undone in eternity.
Christ suffered before you, not just for you
"For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps" (1 Peter 2:21).
Christ suffered for you, in your place, to save you. That is the gospel. But Peter says He also suffered before you, to show you how to walk the same path. "When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23).
Notice what Jesus did not do. He did not insult back. He did not threaten. He did not defend His reputation. He entrusted Himself. Not just His situation. Himself. His reputation, His desire for vengeance, His outcome, His life. All of it. To the Father.
Corrie ten Boom and the guard
Chris told the story of Corrie ten Boom. Her family hid Jewish neighbors from the Nazis. They were arrested. She watched her sister Betsie die in Ravensbrück concentration camp. After the war, one of the guards who had mistreated her sought her out and asked her forgiveness. He said he had come to Christ because he saw that her commitment to Christ in that place was real.
That is what 1 Peter 2 looks like in skin and bone. Suffering unjustly exposes what we value most. It exposes either our commitment or our compromise.
Free to be different
"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24).
The cross is not only about forgiveness. It is also about transformation. We are not just freed from the penalty of sin. We are freed from its power. We are not who we were. We can say no to the bitter response. We can keep going when we feel like quitting. We can serve a difficult boss as unto the Lord. We can endure the slow, unfair season because Christ is in it with us.
One of the strongest demonstrations of the gospel is a Christian walking in obedience and submission under genuinely hard, unjust circumstances. People notice that. People know it is not natural.
You were straying like sheep. You have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2:25). So we walk with Him. And on the hard days, we entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly.