Hope for the suffering

1 Peter 5:10
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.

This is the promise and the hope to those in Christ who suffer. Suffering is temporary, it lasts but a little while. God knows about suffering, and he has promised to do something about suffering - and he always keeps his promises.

Abraham waited for 25 years for the promise of God to be fulfilled. Twenty five years! This is where we get stuck often ... the week of suffering, the month of suffering, maybe even the year or years of suffering do not seem like "a little while". It seems like forever.

And here is the hope to look to through our suffering ... God himself will fix it. And his promise isn't just a promise of taking away suffering, his promise is much bigger. Not only will he restore, confirm, strengthen and establish, but he will do it "to his eternal glory". That is forever!