Patience Pleases God
For one is regarded favorably (is approved, acceptable, and thankworthy) if, as in the sight of God, he endures the pain of unjust suffering. [After all] what kind of glory [is there in it] ifwhen you do wrong and are punished for it, you take it patiently? But if you bear patiently with suffering [which results] when you do right and that is undeserved, it is acceptable and pleasing to God.
— 1 Peter 2:19-20
If you and I are going to receive from these verses what God wants us to have, we will have to read them slowly and digest each phrase and sentence thoroughly. I will admit that I studied them for years trying to understand why it pleased God so much to see me suffer when the Bible plainly states that Jesus bore my suffering and pains of punishment (See Isaiah 53:3-6).
It was many years before I realized that the focal point of these verses in 1 Peter is not the suffering but the attitude one should have in suffering.
Notice the word "patiently" being used in this passage, which says that if someone treats us wrong and we handle it patiently, it is pleasing to God.
To encourage us in our suffering, we are exhorted to look at how Jesus handled the unjust attacks made on Him. The thing that pleases God is our patient attitude—not our suffering.
