Weekly Devotional: Impending Joy

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (1 Peter 1:6)

Nowadays, devastation seems to strike every day. We open our social media accounts every morning to be bombarded with news stories of war and death and tragedy. At times, it seems our world is falling apart.

It’s true. We live in a fallen world where bad thing do happen. People get cancer, friends die, children get sold into slavery and natural disasters leave communities in shambles. With all this pain in the world, where is God?

Many people use the trials of the world to justify their disbelief in God. They claim there can’t possibly be an all-loving God out there if there is so much evil in the world on a daily basis. It’s easy to see why people doubt; but the thing is, this is still God’s plan. Really. Our world is sinful and God hates sin, but everything that happens in our world is for His overall good, even the bad things. The travesties in the world are no mistake because our God doesn’t make mistakes. While our limited human view of things cannot comprehend this plan, God knows what He is doing. He even promises joy.

In 1 Peter, it states that “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” This promise is so sweet. God knows how the tragedies of the world affect us. Both the problems of our nation and the personal struggles we deal with. He knows our grief and He promises joy. The pain will only last “a little while”.

We can take incredible comfort in knowing that this pain is not forever. Romans explains it further when it says that “the pain that you’ve been feeling can’t compare to the joy that’s coming”. The pain of our world and the pain of our personal lives is eventually going to come to an end. This time on Earth is hard, but God has a perfect plan that will end in incomprehensible joy. So trust God’s plan and hold on, joy is coming.

Grand Canyon University trusts God in all situations. If you would like to learn more about GCU’s Christian identity and heritage or would like to read more devotionals please visit our website and check out the GCU Blog.