"Servants, be submissive to your masters 

with all respect, not only to those who are 

good and gentle, but also to those

 who are unreasonable (perverse).

For this finds favor (grace), 

if for the sake of conscience 

toward God a man bears up

under sorrows when suffering unjustly.

For what credit is there if, 

when you sin and are harshly treated,

you endure it with patience?

But if when you do what is right

and suffer for it you patiently endure it,

this finds favor (grace) with God."

I Peter 2:18-20

Well what a relief: I don't have a servant, do you? So do we skip these verses?  No.  In a sense if we are employed, we have become a servant.  If you haven't noticed, I have a finely tuned sense of justice.  I hate injustice.  So how do we handle it when there is injustice in the place of employment, the place where we serve under someone else?  How are we to be submissive when things aren't what they should be?  

Adam Clarke said, "If, in a conscientious discharge of your duty, you suffer evil, this is in the sight of God thankworthy, pleasing, and proper; it shows that you prefer His authority to your own ease, peace, and emolument."

I don't know about you, but this describes some of the places where I worked.  When I went to those who were at the top to request relief, I was betrayed more than once.   I know that it often becomes very difficult to be submissive and respectful.  But if you have difficulty with the person, respect the office and do everything as unto God.  We are asked to bear up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.  This finds grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Think about that phrase of grace as it was applied to Noah, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."  He was mocked, ridiculed for working in obedience to God.  He was bravely building a boat for the time when a deluge was coming: a deluge had never before happened; not even one drop of rain had ever fallen.  Noah went against the grain of society, rubbed their fur backwards because sin was so rampant that righteous Noah really stood out.  Noah really, really bothered them, and they tried to make his life miserable.

I once was in a difficult job in the way-back-when.  I had no way to quit since I was supporting my husband while he was in seminary.  After two years of working under stress in the inner city, working while being verbally abused in a teacher strike, working with a teacher who told me I didn't know anything and she would tell me what to think, a group of supervisors finally sat me down and asked how I did it.  Did what?  Worked with grace in what they knew was a difficult situation. They knew I was working with a difficult teacher.  I had no idea anyone else observed my situation and understood.  They were sincere in their question, and I was able to tell them that I did it in submission to God.   It did not make my work situation necessarily better, but God used it to be a witness.  

Sometimes you have to go through dirt,

to grow in grace.

I don't believe any of us get through this world without at one time or other having to be submissive, to suffer, and to endure, but we can find grace in the eyes of the Lord.