The term translated as “a gracious thing” is the same word Peter used in 1 Peter 2:19. It is simply the Greek word for “grace,” that is, a gift given contrary to what one deserves. The point is that being able to bear up under wrong, holding your ground in the face of injustice, is not something you do on your own strength but is a gift from God. So the apostle can also indicate that God is not far away but near; the injustice you are experiencing is happening “before God” so that he—as it were—sees it. See Genesis 39:2, Genesis 39:21, and Acts 7:9–10.
20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.