Everyone who suffers according to God’s will must trust his soul to a faithful Creator while doing good.
1. Do not be surprised by trials.
“I am now about to take Orders and my degree and go into the world. What will become of me I know not. All I can say is I look for perpetual conflicts and struggles in that life and hope for no other peace, but only a cross, while on this side of eternity.” –George Whitfield
2. Rejoice in so far as you share in Christ’s suffering.
In the darkness as Helen prayed after being horribly beaten and bruised, she sensed the Lord saying to her:
“You asked Me, when you were first converted, for the privilege of being a missionary. This is it. Don’t you want it? . . . These are not your sufferings. They’re Mine. All I ask of you is the loan of your body.”— Helen Roseveare
3. Do not be ashamed for suffering for your faith in Christ.
Suffering will both reveal God’s people as he brings them through it and expose those who are not his people as they fail to trust God or Christ in it. The sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) are revealed in suffering now as they will be revealed in final judgment later. We are now in the last days. The end is near. And in this sense, the final judgment is already underway in the church through Christian suffering.”—Juan Sanchez, 1 Peter for You
4. Entrust your souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.