The power of God for us

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5

It should be of immense comfort to the believer that it is God who caused us to be born again to a living hope (ver. 3), and it is God who keeps us by his power unto the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (ver. 5). We who are surrounded and upheld every moment by God's power need not fear. Our lives are bookended by the power of God. As the hymn puts it, "When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast." In other words, God didn't just put us into the way of faith and then leave us to get to heaven in our own strength and wisdom. "Surely goodness and mercy" - God's goodness and mercy - "shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever" (Ps. 23:6). Be encouraged, dear saint, though the way be hard and the enemy ruthless, though your flesh and heart faint, for the Lord is on your side and greater is he who is in you than he that is in the world. Fear not, for he is with us and will never forsake us. The living hope is a hope he gave us, a hope he purchased for us, and a hope for which he will keep us to the very end. Indeed, can we not then say with the apostle, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"!