Look at 1 Peter 5:6. The word’s lift you up are also translated – exalt, God will exalt us and raise us up above the storms that rage around us. Now what’s interesting about this passage is that we tend to spend more time talking about what it means to humble ourselves than what it means for God to exalt us. It’s always easier to talk about what we need to do then to fully understand and accept God’s promise, but let’s focus on this promises for a moment. What does it mean for God to exalt us? The word, exalt, means to be elevated in position, status or power. It means to be honored. So when we are being beaten down, unappreciated, suffering for doing good and not recognized for our achievements and hard work we need to remember that not only does God see who we are and what we are all about, but God will recognize us and celebrate us. God wants to lift us up to places of honor and glory because we are special to him.
The promise to exalt us is not just a promise given to us today, this has been God’s desire from the very beginning. Turn back to the creation story for a moment and look at Genesis 1:26-27. God created human beings to be exalted above all of creation. This doesn’t mean we are better than everything else in creation, because we aren’t, think about it, we need water and air and trees and plants and fish and animals if we are going to survive – so we aren’t better than the rest of creation – God calls it all good, but God has put us into a special place in his creation. We have been exalted, or lifted up and given dominion over the rest of creation. So from the very beginning God’s desire has been to exalt us, or lift us up to places of honor and God does this not because we did anything to deserve this – look back to creation, we were given this place from the very beginning, before human being did anything, so we don’t earn this place we simply receive it because of God’s grace and love. God delights in exalting us because we are his children, created in his image called to walk with him and work with him in this world.
So it’s always been God’s desire to lift us up and honor us which means that we don’t have to do this ourselves. If God promises to exalt us then we don’t have to spend time and energy trying to exalt ourselves – we simply need to trust God to keep his promise. I know I have talked about him before, but there was a little boy I met at a church camp many years ago when I was a counselor and this boy was in trouble for fighting from the moment he arrived. It wasn’t until one afternoon when he was grounded in our cabin that we talked and he began to share how his father never put his report card on the fridge because he didn’t get straight A’s like the rest of his family. The reason he kept fighting everyone was because he was constantly trying to exalt himself, trying to make himself feel important and special because no one else did.
I wonder sometimes how much we are all like that little boy. We fight to be heard, we fight to be noticed, we fight to show people that we do have value and worth because so many times we feel beaten down and left out; we fight to exalt ourselves and yet what we forget is that God has already exalted us. Our Father in heaven has our report card on his fridge, he has our picture in his wallet and he has our lives in his hands and in his heart so we are already exalted – but God goes one step further and promises to exalt us even here and now so we don’t need to exalt ourselves – we just need to wait and allow God to lift us up in due time – or better yet – in His time.
It’s those last three words that is the hardest part – in his time. The hard part is waiting. Like the little boy at camp, we try to exalt ourselves because we are impatient and yet it is when we take matters into our own hand that the trouble starts. Think back to the story of Abraham, God told him that he was going to lift him up. God was going to make Abraham into a great nation whose descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky and the sand on the beach, but Abraham and his wife didn’t have any children and they were already advanced in age and so as each year passed and children didn’t come they questioned God’s promise. Their questions and doubts grew so strong that finally Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands and decided that Abraham could at least have a child with Sarah’s maidservant Hagar so there would be a child. Instead of waiting for God, they tried to exalt themselves and what they created was a mess. Instead of one strong family, when the promised child finally did arrive they now had sibling rivalry, strong jealousies and divisions that not only divided the family but divided nations and continues to plague the middle east with conflict today. It is hard to wait for God to lift us up when we feel neglected or taken advantage of, it’s hard to wait on God when we feel like nothing is ever going to change, but that’s what it means to be humble and when we are humble God says that his mighty hand will lift us up.
God not only promises to exalt us, he promises to care for us, 1 Peter 5:7. Again, many times we focus on what it means for us to cast our cares on Jesus and we will look at that in a moment, but first let’s stop and consider this promise, God cares for you. The God who created the universe cares for us. Now when we say God cares for us, we aren’t saying God feels favorably toward us, the word care implies action like a parent caring for a child. Just as a good parent knows what their child needs and works to provide that, so God knows what we need and provides it for us. But let’s be clear that God is a good parent and being a good parent doesn’t mean that God will give us everything we want, he gives us what he knows we need. God always has our best interest at heart and God’s ultimate intent isn’t to give us all that we want but to make us into strong faithful children who reflect God’s life and love.
This means God may not simply give us more money when we are in need but teach us to live on less, or be thankful for what we do have. He may not give us that special someone we think we need in life but teach us to live in a deeper relationship with him. God may not bring us the healing we want but instead teach us compassion, empathy and mercy through our suffering. God really does have our best interest at heart – which doesn’t always mean we get what we want or think we need, but it does mean God will provide what He knows we need. When things don’t seem to go our way, when the storms of life come (and they will come), maybe what we need to do is stop and ask ourselves how God is caring for us in this moment.
God has promised to care for us if we will cast our cares on him and so we do need to learn what it means to cast them away to God. Peter uses this image of casting because he was a fisherman and what casting means is that we have to be willing to toss our cares out and really let them go. You have to let the net out of your hands when you cast it into the sea and the same is true with our anxieties and concerns. We have to be willing to let go of our anxieties. We can’t ask God to take things away and care for us if we hold on to the problems and try to take care of it ourselves. I’m not sure God is interested in playing tug of war with us, he wants us to learn how to cast – to toss to him and let go of our burdens so that he can take them up and bring us the blessing of his care – his provision.
The third promise is that God will restore us. 1 Peter 5:10. Peter says that after we have suffered for a little while, God will restore us. Now my guess is that we have all experienced some kind of suffering or set-back in life, it may have been financial, or in a job, or in a relationship. No matter what the set-back’s are, they are painful and difficult, but here is what we need to remember, we don’t go through these times alone. God is with. God has not only made the promise to be with us but he says here that he will be the one to restore us, and give us the strength to stand firm, but let’s be clear about what this restoration is. God is not saying that he will give back to us all that we lost, the word restore means to make solid. God wants to give us a firm foundation during difficult times from which we can move forward.
That is why I love this picture. It was taken just last week in Joplin, MO. Just a week after the tornado we see that God is already at work restoring the people. They won’t get the lives back that were taken from them, they won’t get there homes and all their possessions back, but look at what we see here – God is with them and God’s presence and the presence of the church gives the people a firm foundation from which they can move forward. God is already working to restore the people of Joplin and Tuscaloosa and Springfield MA. God is faithful to his promise!
We find this idea of restoration all through the book of psalms
Psalm 27:5. Psalm 18:16-19.
What I love about Psalm 18 is that it clearly tells us why God restores us and it’s not because we are good, or have been faithful and obedient, it is because God loves us. Psalm 18:19. In fact, the reason God makes and keeps all of these promises isn’t because we are humble or faithful or disciplined or even good at letting go of our worries – it is simply because God delights in us. It is God’s grace and love that moves him to make and keep these promise. Look at 1 Peter 5:10. Do you see anything in here about our faithfulness or that God helps us because of how good we are? No, it’s all because of God’s grace and God’s call – it’s all because God loves us.
So if you are going through a difficult time today, if you feel beaten down, anxious or suffering through some set back in life, remember that God makes these promises to you – God will exalt you, God will care for you and God will restore you in his love. And as we look around at the world and see all kinds of storms raging, instead of giving in or giving up, let’s stand firm in this truth – God will exalt us, God will care for us, God will restore us – GOD WILL.
