God Power Reveal in Suffering

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Hope while Suffering

Romans 8:18-30

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

                  How do we find joy amid the suffering and tragedies of life?  When we are going through difficult circumstances that reveal our helplessness and confront us with the reality of our frailty, where do we find hope in the present?  In verse 18, Paul reminds us of the hope we have in eternity, that the joy and glory we will experience in heaven will far surpass the worst suffering we experience in the present. While we affirm this to be true, that can be little consolation when we are suffering and heartbreak in the present.  Paul is not the blind optimist who does not understand what it is like to suffer.  In his life, he had experienced physical and mental suffering.  He had to be beaten so severely that he was on the threshold of death.  He wrestled with fear and depression.  So, Paul understands what it means to suffer.  He does not deny the pain of suffering. Rather, he desires to give us hope amid our suffering. Paul takes us back to the cause of suffering.  The reason we suffer is not because God is silent or uncaring; it is because of the ravenous effects of sin that subjected all creation, including humanity, to futility (vs 23).  Our lives become plagued by a sense of uselessness and meaninglessness where all our efforts seem to have no purpose or result.  Like all creation, we groan within ourselves (vs. 23).

                  However, Paul does not want to shatter any joy we might have left. Instead, he desires to give us hope and joy amid life’s struggles. First, he reminds us that God does not abandon us to face the struggles alone.  God has given us his Holy Spirit to come and help us amid our deepest sorrows by interceding for us before the Father so that we might live within God’s plan.

                  Second, Paul reminds us that our suffering allows God to display His full power and grace. God flips the narrative from sorrow and tragedy to good and positive.  It is essential to realize what Paul is affirming and what he is not affirming in verse 28.  He is not saying all things are good.  Sin and its devastating consequences are not good things.  It was not God’s desire; instead, it resulted from our choice to reject the life God desired.  Paul affirms that God, in His sovereign power, orchestrates all events in our life, including suffering,  to achieve His ultimate purpose for us, not because we love Him but because He loves us.  In our suffering, God's infinite power and love are on full display so that He directs the events so that instead of bringing us harm, it brings about His perfect will in our lives.  God did not cause us to sin, but he used our sin to fully display His love and grace to us.  God is not the cause of the sorrow and tragedies we experience in a broken world. Nevertheless, He uses these events to reveal the fullness of His grace, mercy, and love for us. The suffering we face in life is not the end of the story; instead, it serves as the introduction to the story that displays God’s infinite power and love for us by using these events to draw us to Him and conform us to Christ's image.  Suffering is not good, but what God accomplishes in us and through us through our suffering is always good.  When we live within the context of His love and grace, even in suffering, we discover the foundation for joy because we see beyond the struggles of the present and see His love at work in our lives. Suffering is the spotlight that reveals God’s love for us and His sovereign work in our lives.  It is His tool to change our perspective from the present to the eternal, from a life obsessed with the transitory things of this age to a life driven by the eternal rewards of Christ. 

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