“Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.” (1 Peter 5:9 CSB)
Devotional
Most struggles feel private, even when they aren’t.
Peter has just described the enemy like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour, and his instruction isn’t complicated: resist him, firm in the faith. That part we might expect from a passage about spiritual warfare. What comes next is easy to skim past, but it’s doing real work. He reminds them that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by believers throughout the world. You are not the only one fighting this.
There’s something about isolation that makes resistance harder. When we think our particular struggle, whether it’s anxiety, temptation, doubt, or exhaustion, is somehow uniquely ours, it gets heavier. We start to believe something is wrong specifically with us. Peter is correcting that assumption before it can take root. Believers everywhere, in every era, have faced this same pressure. You’re not broken in some special way. You’re in a fight that’s common to the family of God.
That doesn’t make the fight easier in the moment, but it changes how we carry it. Firm in the faith doesn’t mean standing alone and gritting your teeth through it. It means standing with an entire global and historical family who understand exactly what you’re up against, even if they never hear the details of your particular week.
So when resistance feels lonely, that’s worth remembering. Somewhere else in the world, another believer is resisting the same pressure tonight, drawing on the same faith, held by the same God.
Reflection
I tend to assume my struggles are uniquely mine to carry, which makes them feel heavier than they need to. I want to remember I’m part of a much larger family who knows this fight too.
Prayer
Father, thank you that we’re not alone in what we’re resisting. Make us firm in faith, and remind us of our brothers and sisters around the world facing the same battles. Strengthen us together. Amen.