Our verse today is very precious. The God of all grace has called us. The God of glory called Abraham out of Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan. The God of all grace has called us out of “the present evil world” (Gal. 1:4).

We might have been satisfied just to be called out. But like Abraham, He has called us with a destination in mind. For us today, He is not leading us to the land of Canaan. Our destination is His eternal glory. So often in this world, the glory of man fades in a very short time. In contrast, we have been called to His eternal glory. This glory will never fade and never crumble. It is as eternal as the God who has called us.

In the meantime, we pass through suffering. This was true even for our blessed Savior, who said, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” (Lk. 24:26). He suffered first, now He is glorified in heaven, and soon His glory will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14).

For us too, now is the suffering time. None of us likes to suffer, but if we are following the Lord Jesus as our Master, it will come in one way or another. For some it is health, for some it may be finances, for others something different. However, our Father uses everything for our good. In His manifold grace (1 Pet. 4:10), He uses these trials of the way to make us perfect, to establish us, to strengthen us, and to ground our faith more firmly in Himself. He truly works all things together for our good. May we trust Him more. He will uphold us through the sufferings and soon bring us into His eternal glory!