1 Peter 4: 12 – 19
We are all familiar with a good old all American curve ball. A googley is the same thing only it’s a pitch (Bowl) in Cricket rather than Baseball.
Why did I use this particular example to open this teaching?
Well, it’s really just because I can.
Actually, I thought it might be interesting to think of things, or look at things, in a slightly different way.
We’ve all heard it before that just because we accepted Jesus into our hearts that life was not going to be all skittles and beer. There are going to be troubles.
Peter knew this and wrote about it so that we wouldn’t be surprised.
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.
13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
I know that I have gone through many such times. I wrote before about a prayer group that started during the night shift that I used to work. On nights that I wasn’t there another employee, seeing the popularity of the prayer group, and claiming to be a fellow Christian, held meetings on his own, and began “laying on of hands” in inappropriate ways on the female clients, we were both suspended for his actions. He worried about his job; I praised God for getting suspended for doing his work, knowing that it would give Him glory.
I was bowled a googley and the other guy was struck out. The prayer group lived on, but we had to change the time to be held before 11 PM, rather than during the overnight shift.
Troubles are to be expected. Yet we may well be shocked by the circumstances facing us. But God is never surprised! He permits our trials, and He can enable us to respond to them in a way that honors Him. In God’s strength, we can face life’s most troublesome curveballs.
We are all familiar with a good old all American curve ball. A googley is the same thing only it’s a pitch (Bowl) in Cricket rather than Baseball.
Why did I use this particular example to open this teaching?
Well, it’s really just because I can.
Actually, I thought it might be interesting to think of things, or look at things, in a slightly different way.
We’ve all heard it before that just because we accepted Jesus into our hearts that life was not going to be all skittles and beer. There are going to be troubles.
Peter knew this and wrote about it so that we wouldn’t be surprised.
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.
13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
I know that I have gone through many such times. I wrote before about a prayer group that started during the night shift that I used to work. On nights that I wasn’t there another employee, seeing the popularity of the prayer group, and claiming to be a fellow Christian, held meetings on his own, and began “laying on of hands” in inappropriate ways on the female clients, we were both suspended for his actions. He worried about his job; I praised God for getting suspended for doing his work, knowing that it would give Him glory.
I was bowled a googley and the other guy was struck out. The prayer group lived on, but we had to change the time to be held before 11 PM, rather than during the overnight shift.
Troubles are to be expected. Yet we may well be shocked by the circumstances facing us. But God is never surprised! He permits our trials, and He can enable us to respond to them in a way that honors Him. In God’s strength, we can face life’s most troublesome curveballs.
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