Security updates

Christine Colliar May 19, 2026 3 4

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Listen to this daily worship

1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 (NIV-UK)

12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Peter writes to people under pressure, but he does not soften the message — Do not be surprised, as though something strange is happening to you.

Faith does not remove struggle. Peter knows what fear can do to people. It can keep us awake at night replaying conversations. It can make us sharp with one another, suspicious, exhausted, quick to lose hope. Pressure has a way of shrinking the world until survival becomes the only thing we can see.

And Peter understands that danger well. He knows the deepest struggle is not always what comes from outside, but what slowly settles within us if we are not watchful.

Throughout history, people have tried to reshape faith into something smaller and easier to control. Fear can do it. Pride can do it. Weariness can do it too. We begin looking for certainty instead of trust, strength instead of mercy, enemies instead of neighbours.

So, Peter calls the church back — Humble yourselves! Cast your anxiety on God. Stand firm.

There is tenderness in those words as well as urgency. God does not step away from struggling people. God restores. God strengthens. God steadies those who feel worn thin.

Perhaps the security updates we need are quieter than we expect. A prayer whispered before sleep. The courage to speak truthfully when something would be easier left unsaid. A moment of stillness before reacting in anger. A decision to place what we carry into God’s hands once again.

Prayer:

Guarding God,

search us gently.

See what we carry,

name what distorts,

clear what harms.

Heal what is broken,

strengthen what is weak,

secure us in your care.

Keep us alert,

rooted and steady,

until we stand firm in you.

Amen