1 Peter 5:6-14

⁶ “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷ having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you. ⁸ Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ So resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brothers and sisters who are in the world. ¹⁰ After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.¹² Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it! ¹³ She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark. ¹⁴ Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ.”

Humble yourselves: In the context, Peter is not talking about false types of humility in which we try to humble ourselves through rigorous religious living. He has in mind a dependency on God in which we allow Him to carry our anxieties and stresses from life. Humility arises as we trust in God’s gracious nature. 

Your adversary the devil: Peter encourages Christians to  rest in the indwelling presence of Christ in the midst of spiritual warfare as opposed to engaging the devil verbally or rebuking him. This is similar to Paul’s view of the armor of God (Ephesians 6). We are to be strong in the Lord, not in ourselves. As we are strong in the Lord, we will be able to resist what Satan is doing. The enemy’s main goal is not to get people to do bad stuff. Rather, Satan is trying to encourage people to disbelieve in God just as he did in the garden. Satan is also the accuser of the brethren. He tries to convince believers that they are somehow far from God or that they are too wicked to be in relationship with God. But the Gospel says the precise opposite. There is no longer relational distance between the Christian and God because of Christ’s finished work. 

Perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish: Though sufferings are not of God He does use them to establish us in the faith. God works within His children in the midst of sufferings in order to mature us in Christ. This does not necessarily mean that the externals will change, but it does mean that internally we will know the fruit of the Spirit in a more intimate way and enjoy God’s love in greater magnitude. 

Same experiences of suffering: We often feel as if we are alone in our suffering. However, Satan makes a target out of all Christians. No single Christian is immune to persecution. 

Stand firm in it!: Peter encourages the church to know the true Gospel and to stand firm or resist false teaching. Just as is the case today, there were many false teachings present in Peter’s time. Any teaching that violated the nature or finished work of Christ was to be discarded.