PLACES OF STRENGTH
1 Peter 5: 5-9 NKJ
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
These five verses give us some powerful spiritual positions. Notice I used spiritual because, from a secular perspective, submission and humility don’t sound strong.
Peter is encouraging the younger to submit to their elders. And then instructs everyone to be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. The word submissive in the New King James Version is translated subject to. The meaning of subject is to place in rank under. This is not suggesting that we obey everyone else and what others tell us to do. This is an attitude of treating others as more important than ourselves. And being clothed with humility means we are not making a fuss about us.
Peter offers great motivation for being clothed with humility. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. To those who act as if “I’ve got this,” to those who assume they don’t need or want God’s involvement, they will get what they want. God resists those people. But to those who acknowledge their need for God and are willing to submit to His ways, grace is coming their way. Think about it for a moment. God does not force anything on anyone. We must choose. When we humbled ourselves and acknowledged our need for a Savior, grace was there. For those who never come to that place or believe their works can save them, there will be only resistance and no grace.
Peter does not stop there but encourages the believers to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. Notice the humbling is done by the individual, not God. But if anyone will humble themselves under God’s hand then He will exalt them. The power of exaltation is found in the position of humility.
Attached to humbling ourselves is casting all our cares on the Lord. All in the Greek language means all. Not giving the big cares to God but handling the small ones ourselves. It requires humility to give all our cares to God, believing He cares for us. This is a place of strength because we are leaning on the Lord instead of worrying and fretting. We may or may not have to be involved with the things that are worrying us, but we are not carrying the burden of worry.
And finally, the last place of strength is recognizing and resisting the devil. And these are two separate positions. We must recognize we have an enemy which requires a sober-minded mentality. Refusing to acknowledge a devil can cause confusion in our lives. But if we recognize we have an adversary who opposes us, we will be much more willing to adopt a stance of resistance against him. Thinking everything comes from God, good and bad, does not position us to resist.
Resistance is done in faith. By faith, we resist temptations, wrong thoughts, spiritual attacks, sickness, and oppression. Knowing that what comes to steal, kill, and destroy is not from God puts us in a much stronger position. When I lost my voice a couple of years ago, one thing I knew was that it was the enemy, not God, behind the affliction. So, I resisted in confidence. Oppressive thoughts and feelings are not from God, and we don’t have to give in to them. We can resist. This is where knowing the Scriptures can provide a template of what to resist with. This is a big subject but worth thinking about and talking with the Lord about. Don’t relax, resist!
Submission, humility, awareness, and resistance. These are places of strength in God’s Kingdom.
PRAYER
Lord, help me grow in these areas of strength. Your Kingdom functions on different principles and values and I look to You to show me how to make progress by faith.