Theme: Strength After Suffering
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. – 1 Peter 5:6-10 ESV
CENTRAL TRUTH
God does not waste our suffering. What hurts us does not have to destroy us; in the hands of the God of all grace, it can become part of the process by which He restores, stabilizes, strengthens, and establishes us.
Throughout this series we have discovered many sources of the strength that we need.
We have learned:
- Deuteronomy 33:25 — God gives strength equal to our days.
- 2 Chronicles 16:9 — God shows Himself strong on behalf of hearts fully committed to Him.
- Nehemiah 8:10 — “The joy of the LORD is your strength.”
- Isaiah 30:15 — Strength is found in returning, rest, quietness, and trust.
- Isaiah 40:31 — Those who wait upon the Lord renew their strength.
- Psalm 73:26 — When heart and flesh fail, God remains the strength of our heart.
- Habakkuk 3:19 — God gives us strength to walk on difficult heights.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9–10 — God’s grace becomes sufficient when our own strength proves insufficient.
But 1 Peter 5:10 takes us another step.
The question is no longer simply:
“Where will I find the strength that I need?”
Peter answers another question:
“This is what happens after the suffering is done”
And Peter’s answer is magnificent:
He is restoring.
He is confirming.
He is strengthening.
He is establishing.
THE CONTEXT: SUFFERING, RESISTANCE AND GRACE
Peter is writing to Christians experiencing genuine suffering.
Immediately before our text he says:
1 Peter 5:8–9 — “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion… Resist him, firm in your faith…”
Peter does not pretend that every hardship will immediately disappear.
Instead, he tells them:
Resist.
Stand.
Trust.
And understand that God is working.
Then comes one of the most important phrases in the passage:
“The God of all grace… will HIMSELF…”
God has not delegated your restoration. God Himself is involved.
And Peter calls Him “the God of all grace.”
- Grace is more than God’s forgiveness of our sins.
- Grace is God’s divine provision for our human insufficiency.
That connects directly to Paul’s experience:
2 Corinthians 12:9 — “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
The God who allows us to pass through seasons requiring strength is also the God of all grace who supplies the strength necessary to survive them.
I. GOD WILL RESTORE YOU
“…will himself restore…”
Greek: katartizō
The word carries the idea of mending, repairing, putting something back into proper condition, or making something useful again.
It is the word used in Matthew 4:21 when James and John were “mending their nets.”
- The nets had been stretched.
- They had been pulled.
- They had developed tears.
- But damaged nets were not discarded.
- They were mended because they still had a purpose.
Supporting Scriptures
Psalm 147:3 — “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
Joel 2:25 — “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”
Restoration does not necessarily mean God returns everything exactly to the way it was.
Sometimes God doesn’t restore…He generates what is new.
Biblical Example — Peter
Perhaps Peter himself is the best example.
Peter had declared:
“Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.” — Matthew 26:35
Hours later he denied Jesus three times.
Peter was devastated.
But after the resurrection Jesus met him beside the Sea of Galilee.
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” – John 21:15-19 ESV
Jesus did not discard a damaged Peter. He restored him. And the man who denied Jesus before a servant girl would soon stand before thousands at Pentecost and boldly proclaim Christ.
Broken does not mean finished.
The God of all grace knows how to mend what life has torn.
II. GOD WILL CONFIRM YOU
“…restore, confirm…”
Greek: stērizō
It means to make firm, stable, steadfast, or immovable.
God doesn’t simply want us functioning again. He wants us stable.
Psalm 40:2 — “He drew me up from the pit of destruction… and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”
2 Thessalonians 3:3 — “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”
Trials expose instability.
Sometimes we discover that things we thought were holding us weren’t nearly as strong as we imagined.
But God uses difficult seasons to teach us where our confidence actually belongs.
Biblical Example — Joseph
Joseph’s life repeatedly became unstable.
- His family turned against him.
- He was sold into slavery.
- His circumstances changed again in Potiphar’s house.
- Then he was falsely accused.
- Then imprisoned.
- Then forgotten.
- His circumstances were anything but stable.
But Joseph became increasingly stable.
Genesis repeatedly gives us the reason:
Genesis 39:21 — “But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love…”
Joseph eventually discovered something: My circumstances may change without changing the faithfulness of my God.
That’s stability.
Sometimes God doesn’t stabilize the circumstances around you because He is stabilizing the person within you.
III. GOD WILL STRENGTHEN YOU
“…restore, confirm, strengthen…”
Greek: sthenoō
The word means to make strong or impart strength.
Remarkably, this particular verb appears only here in the New Testament.
Peter is telling suffering believers:
- God Himself will put strength into you.
This is the heartbeat of our entire series.
Isaiah 41:10 — “Fear not, for I am with you… I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Ephesians 3:16 — Paul prays that God would grant believers “to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”
Notice where Paul says the strengthening occurs: “In your inner being.”
God may change the situation. But before He changes the situation, He often strengthens the person who must walk through it.
Biblical Example: Samson
Judges 16:22 — “But the hair of his head began to grow again…”
Judges 16:28 — “O Lord GOD…please strengthen me only this once…”
And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets– who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. – Hebrews 11:32-34 ESV
Samson spent most of his life demonstrating how strong a man can be when the Spirit of God comes upon him. But at the end of his life, he demonstrated something even more important: how strong a weak man can become when he cries out to God.
IV. GOD WILL ESTABLISH YOU
“…restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
Greek: themelioō
This is a construction word.
It means to lay a foundation, establish securely, or cause something to be firmly grounded.
Peter finishes with the foundation.
Supporting Scriptures
Jesus said:
Matthew 7:24–25 — The wise man “built his house on the rock.” The rain fell, floods came and winds blew, “but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
Paul writes:
Colossians 2:6–7 — “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith…”
Storms reveal foundations. A house may look strong on a sunny afternoon. You discover what it is built upon when the storm comes.
Biblical Example — Job
Job lost virtually everything that gave his life stability.
- His possessions.
- His children.
- His health.
- Much of his support system.
Yet Job eventually declared:
Job 19:25 — “For I know that my Redeemer lives…”
Notice what suffering did.
- It stripped away many of the temporary things upon which human beings naturally depend.
- But underneath everything remained one foundation: “My Redeemer lives.”
At the end of the book, Job’s understanding of God had deepened:
Job 42:5 — “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.”
Job came through suffering knowing God at a depth he had not known Him before.
#Virtualamen: The storm that shakes everything around you can deepen the foundation beneath you.
BUT DON’T MISS THE TIMING
Peter says:
“After you have suffered a little while…”
That may be the hardest phrase in the passage.
Peter doesn’t say:
“Before you suffer.”
Nor does he say:
“So that you never have to suffer.”
He says:
“After you have suffered…”
Christian faith does not deny suffering.
It puts suffering inside a larger story.
Paul says:
2 Corinthians 4:17 — “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
Peter says God has:
“called you to his eternal glory in Christ.”
Notice the contrast:
- What I’m going through is temporary.
- What God is producing is eternal.
THE GREAT PROMISE: “HE WILL HIMSELF”
Peter does not say:
Maybe God will restore you.
He says:
“He will himself…”
The God of all grace has personally taken responsibility for completing His work in us.
Paul expresses the same confidence:
Philippians 1:6 — “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
So when I cannot see what God is doing, I can still believe:
He is working.
When I don’t feel stronger:
He is working.
When restoration seems incomplete:
He is working.
When my circumstances remain unsettled:
He is working.
Because the God of all grace has not abandoned His work in me.