SURPRISE!

Surprise! 

What rises in you when you hear that word?

Do you love surprises?

Or do you prefer predictability—knowing what’s coming and when?

A little internet research informed me that most people like to be surprised. 

(I was, actually, surprised by this). 

Those who don't have a need for PREDICTABILITY...and, surprise always falls into the category of uncertainty. 

I’m a bit neutral. Most of my surprise-experiences have been good ones.

But it’s the hard surprises—the ones that arrive uninvited and unwelcome—that tend to shake me (and probably you, as well):  the loss of a loved one, a difficult diagnosis, a fractured relationship…
even the smaller disruptions—delays, cancellations, misplaced luggage.

Those are the ones that throw us.

And yet…surprises are part of life.

If we’ve embraced our identity as holy oddballs—elect exiles, sojourners, pilgrims—Peter tells us there is one “surprise” we should actually expect.

SUFFERING! 

In fact, Peter goes so far as to say DIFFICULTY shouldn’t surprise us at all.

“Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you…as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12)

Peter is helping us redefine what is normal.

Trials are not interruptions to our lives.
They are part of the pathway of our faith.

“…though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith…may be found to result in praise and glory and honor…” (1 Peter 1:6–7)

During the years I studied to obtain my degree in counseling, one of my professors encouraged all of his students to develop a theology of suffering. 

In fact, the final for that class wasn't an exam, but basically a dissertation on the subject.

That exercise revealed, with clarity, how little I understood what the Scriptures tell me about dealing with this topic. 

Peter knew we'd need our own theology; a firm foundation to stand on when we have to face the trials of life.

He starts with two simple truths intended to shift our understanding of "normal" and help us to steady our souls.

His goal for us is to move more rapidly from  SURPRISE to SOUL-SETTLED when suffering lands in our laps.

First—tribulation is normal.
There is nothing unusual happening when hardship comes.
It is not personal. It is not proof that something has gone wrong.
It is part of living in a broken world.

Maybe… it’s just our turn.

Second—the Lord is present.
We do not suffer alone.
And if He is with us, He is not passive—He is purposeful.

He is refining.
He is strengthening.
He is preparing something in us that will one day result in glory.

Again, Peter’s goal is not to explain away suffering—but to prepare us for it.

So that we can move, more quickly,
from surprise…to a settled soul.

And, I believe he's inviting each of us to develop our own Biblical understanding of suffering... (praise the Lord, he won't be giving us a grade!). 

In Peter's experience, he knows we're going to need it...and he wants his listener's to be ready.

So, let's add this exercise to the top of our to-do-lists (even I need a refresher on my theology of suffering)...and more of Peter's advice next week.