I intentionally took a tough approach in my message on Sunday morning. I realize it hit between the eyes, but almost none of our students are in such hard places to submit. Instead, they are still struggling against Christian authorities who care for them and treat them with more grace than justice. I hoped that by pointing out the biblical call to submit, even when suffering unjustly, that they would be see their need to follow and influence the (typically) gracious authorities over them.

However, even though I did not take time to give comfort and encouragement (most of what I did was challenging if not confronting), there is certainly a place for tenderness and compassion and help. That’s because submitting to unfair authority is actually hard.

I can’t think of anywhere in Scripture that says submission itself is hard (though our flesh has its own perspective). God sees submission as right and relieving. But He also reveals that submitting when it isn’t fair it is heavy and painful. That’s why Peter says in 1 Peter 2:19, “when one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly,” that is, bearing under the weightiness of injustice. Peter isn’t playing with words when he calls it suffering, and what we suffer are sorrows. I don’t ever want to minimize that submission in these hard places is full of heartache.

Hard, heavy, and hurtful submission is what He calls us to, but that isn’t because our Father is aloof, it’s because He cares! We see His care in the title “Shepherd and Overseer of our souls” (2:25). He is interested and invested in our hearts, even when His will includes injustice. We also see His care in chapter five. After admonishing the young people to submit in humility to their elders Peter says in verses 6 and 7,

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

He is making us into the likeness of His Son and that includes directing us down the same difficult path His Son walked. But we could never question the Father’s care for His own Son. Neither should we question His care for us.

So let our counsel be large in compassion to those in tough places. They should know that we care and we should be much in prayer. But we must also remind them of the biblical exhortation, explanation, and Example to submit always to authority, entrusting ourselves to Him who judges justly. Let’s follow in His steps.