March 4, 2009

• Romans 8:28

  I put this together for our weekly prayer and devotions as work today, and thought I would share it here also.  Enjoy!

  Romans 8:28 – “All things work together for good for those who love God, who have been called according to his purpose.”

   

  This has always been one of my favorite Scriptures.  Whenever something “bad” happens in my life, this verse pops up in my mind.  Since the loss of our baby, this verse has been on my mind and heart quite often. 

   

  (The following is excerpted – with slight changes – from a devotion called “The Groan before the Glory” by Will Pound, the full text can be found at www.abideinchrist.com/messages/rom8v18.html.)

   

  When we pray for something or someone everyday and that thing or person is taken from us anyway, it’s easy to think that God didn’t answer our prayers or that He didn’t even listen.  But, God did answer our prayers.  He just didn’t answer them the way we would have. 

   

  God knows what is best for us and always has our best interests at heart.  Though we may not always see the reasons or understand the purpose, we trust that everything that happens somehow fits into God’s perfect plan.  He has a purpose for everything.

   

  From a poem by Ester Field: “Things don’t just happen to us who love God; they’re planned by His own dear hand.  Then molded, and shaped, and timed by His clock!  Things don’t just happen; they’re planned.”

   

  In Romans 8, God declares that our present sufferings, no matter how severe, will fade into insignificance when compared with our future glory.  Romans 8:16-18 – “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

   

  Suffering is going to be a part of our lives.  Being Christian does not magically make us exempt from suffering or the pressures of life.  Life isn’t always fair.  It was never meant to be fair. 

   

  Struggling and suffering are a refining process through which every believer must pass.  It forces us to trust in God.  He pulls away our false securities.  Suffering makes us more like what we will be like when we actually see Jesus face to face.  Hurts, pains, and persecutions are used by God to get our attention.  C.S. Lewis said that pain was God’s megaphone.  He gets our attention through our suffering and He uses it to teach us great spiritual lessons.  Then He can use us to minister to a hurting world.

   

  Anyone who is hurting can identify with Jesus.  2 Corinthians 5:21 – “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

   

  The ultimate goal of suffering is the outcome.  What is the benefit of suffering?  The Apostle Paul says it is the joy of glorification.  The Lord uses our trials and tribulations to purge us of sin, to bring us closer to Himself, to conform us to the image of His Son, and prepare us to minister to others who are hurting.  When we can see only the wound and feel the pain, we fail to see the purpose in it.  But when we yield ourselves to God, He takes the chances, changes and circumstances in our lives and uses them for His glory and for our ultimate good.

   

  Paul also stresses the fact that our suffering now is short in comparison to the future glory with Christ in Heaven.  The suffering here is temporary; however, the glory to come is eternal.  John 14:1-3 – “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

   

  1 Peter 4:12-13 – “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”

   

  We get attached to this life and we tend to want to cling to its attractions.  God uses the pressures of life, persecutions and sufferings to wean us off the glitter of this world.  Romans 7:24-25 – “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

   

  We groan over life as it is now with its suffering.  Far too often we fail to get eternity into the picture.  We groan for something better, but we do not groan as those who have no hope.  No where is that hope expressed more profoundly than before an open casket of a believer at the graveside.  Because Christ lives, we too shall live.  This groaning will fade when we are ushered into the brightness of His glory. 

   

  The Holy Spirit loves us so much that He longs for the day when we will be free of sin and will glorify God forever in perfection and joy.  The Spirit prays that the deeply hidden needs of our hearts, needs that we sometimes don’t even recognize, may be met in Christ.  He knows our hearts even better than we do.  Romans 8:34 reminds us that Christ is in heaven interceding on our behalf.  We have two divine intercessors praying for us right now: Christ in heaven and the Holy Spirit on earth within each of us.

   

  Nothing in this world happens outside of the will of God.  Nothing.  There are no future failures.  There are no losers.  There are no loose ends in the final plan of God.  In His eyes we are winners if we are walking in His Spirit.

   

  Here are some questions to think about: What can I learn when I feel I have blown it, or when things go wrong?  What is God teaching me in this situation?  How can I learn from it?  What is God saying to me in this?

   

  You may feel extremely vulnerable and wonder how you will endure in your present situation.  But there is hope – you are not alone.  Christ is with you.  The weaker we are the greater is His power and help.  Your cries reach the throne of God.  He listens, He hears, He cares.  Hand it over to Christ and He will give you His strength and life.

   

  Romans 8:28 – “All things work together for good for those who love God, who have been called according to his purpose.”

  • 12:13 pm
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