“Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” (1 Peter 4:19)
No one wants to suffer. Peter certainly didn’t. He was adamant that Jesus should not go to Jerusalem to “suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed” (Matt. 16:21). What kind of nonsense talk was this? Jesus certainly had better things in store for Him than a cruel cross.
Peter would have to grow up in the faith before understanding that there is a difference between embracing the suffering that lies in the path of doing God’s will, while avoiding the suffering that follows sin. “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing” (1 Pet. 3:17).
Many would tell us what suffering is in the will of God, and what suffering isn’t; what suffering God would keep us from, and what suffering God would keep us in. Peter makes it clear that the suffering God would keep us from is that which comes upon us because of evil doing. The suffering God would keep us in is the suffering we have not caused ourselves. We can do evil in finding a wrong way to escape such suffering. But God would keep our souls in “well doing” as we commit ourselves to Him.
The Lord is our Faithful Creator, who will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. His way of escape will enable us to bear the suffering involved in the trials we face. Like Jesus, we will not fall away in time of temptation, but we will learn obedience through the things we suffer.