Month: May 2026

Thank you for the cross, thank you for the nail pierced hands, the Darling of heaven crucified – worthy is the Lamb.

”Let that picture of the cross remain indelibly imprinted on your mind – so that it may influence every part of your life, every part of your thinking, every decision you make. There never has been a more remarkable and history-changing event than Myself – clothed In humanity, giving it all to the many, many beloved who I have and will still create, so that we can all join in the glorious kingdom of the new Heavens and the new Earth.

Romans ch 8 is written as a “chiastic”. It opens with a specific thought moves to another, then completes this second thought and finally finishes with the first thought. Something like double brackets. So today we read Romans 8:28 – 30, which completes the teaching about suffering as a cause for the reader to feel separated from God, the second bracket to the suffering teaching. Next week we will see the closing of the bracket about sin causing us to feel separated from God and then a summary refuting the whole idea of being separated from God.

Today’s passage is such a well-known passage that it is worth spending a whole session on it. Roman’s 8:28 is often easily quoted even by non-Christians. However it is often, subtly misquoted, even by our own brethren. It is a comforting thought that “in all things God works for the good”. That is where many stop however, claiming that as an assurance that everything is going to work out “allright” in the end. But there is much more to this idea as it should be read in it’s entirety.

There are two questions that need to be answered: 1. Who is this promise aimed at? And 2. What is the purpose of God’s “work”?

So we see that the promise is for “those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” This clearly defines the limits of this promise. It is not aimed at any and everyone who finds themselves in difficulties or suffering, because it is the initial statement of the bigger purpose of God’s work in the life of the believer, the one who has been adopted as a “Child of God”.

The rest of the paragraph describes God’s purpose then. The purpose that He is using suffering to complete. We have already seen in 5:3 that the purpose of suffering is to promote hope. Hope is the confident expectation and desire to see and experience of the glory that will be revealed in us. Then in 8:18, where Paul introduces his teaching on suffering there is the important statement that the way to deal with suffering is get our thinking into perspective, seeing the huge promise of glory one day as much greater than the pain of present suffering.

So what does the present paragraph then emphasize? It shows the process God is using to prepare the believer for the glory, which Paul mentioned before. Here is a useful illustration of this process that God is busy with. Imagine God is building each believer into a beautiful building, which will only be completed when we are with the Lord one day. Each phase is carefully planned to ultimately reveal this “perfectly glorious” building. But to build the building God, like any good builder, needs scaffolding to reach the building as it rises. The onlooker at that stage cannot see the building because the scaffolding is in the way. In our lives the scaffolding represents the suffering and difficulties we experience. They so often cloud our vision that we don’t see past them where the glorious building is being built. The way to cope with suffering then is to look past the scaffolding and remind ourselves of the glorious final product we will receive one day.

To God this process of preparing us for glory is far more important than our comfort and ease in this life. Seeing our whole lives in this perspective helps us to fit ourselves into God’s bigger purpose for each one of us. We will see further on that God is always “for us” and therefore will never hurt or harm us intentionally, but always seeks to complete us for His and our glory, eventually.

May He bless you as you think through this valuable teaching.

How marvellous, how wonderful is my Saviour’s love for me.

”My love’s depth, height, length and breadth have never been fully tested. It is so much larger than the whole of what can be seen and experienced by mankind. Every word, every act every relationship I have is governed by my love which covers everything. So much is happening in the world that seems to deny that. But even the worst things are curbed and governed by my love – which I demonstrated by sending my Son to die on the cross as the way of redemption and restoration. So allow my love to surround you all and keep you till you come to be with me.”

As we continue to look at the effect of suffering on the believer and God’s remedy, we come to another dimension. The work of God’s Spirit to help us deal with suffering. Please read Romans 8:26, 27.

We have been looking at how suffering can make us feel, separated from God. Paul has focused so far on two things. Suffering is both universal and then there is also the expectation that the Christian will suffer in some way as part of His/her relationship with Jesus and His suffering.

The second point is that overall the way to deal with suffering is to see it in the perspective of the big picture. The glory that awaits us far outweighs the present pain of suffering and suffering is therefore a positive force that. God uses to expand our hope and get our focus in the right area.

But there is an additional practical help, which we see in the reading today. Jesus called the Spirit who He would send to take over His ministry on earth the “Paraclete”. That means the “One who comes by your side to comfort you” often just known as the Comforter. But how does He do that?

In two ways. Firstly the Greek word in vs 26 translated as “helps” in the NIV is sunantilambino. It is a difficult word to translate to give its full meaning, but it means much more than helps. It describes something like the action of drawing two parties together who have been separated. This is so meaningful, since it recognises that God is aware of the tendency that suffering has in separating us from Him and His love. So this is the first act that the Spirit is doing for each one of us on our behalf when we are facing suffering to act by drawing us back to God and restoring our relationship with Him

The second act is what we all understand when we read these verses, that when we are so overwhelmed by suffering that we don’t know what to pray or how, the Spirit takes over on our behalf and speaks the right words to the Father. Words of intercession and love. What many readers may miss is the sense of vs 27. What Paul is saying is that this act of intercession is so meaningful because the Spirit knows the very depths of our thoughts and emotions, so we don’t have to describe or explain them to Him before He can intercede. And He aligns His prayers on our behalf with the will of the Father making them most effective.

So in our universal experience of suffering we have this immense comfort that the very “Comforter” is actively engaged in coming alongside us and drawing even closed the deeper our suffering goes, helping us in ways we often can not imagine. The big challenge is to believe this and entrust ourselves to His work on our behalf.

God bless till next week.

Be still and know that I am God – when the oceans rise and kingdoms fall, be still and know that I am God.

”Sometimes all may seem like chaos around you, no pattern, no clear way ahead – that is the moment to be still and focus on Me. Remembering that I created all and I am in control of all. Learn to surrender your fear, your pain, your frustration and start trusting in Me and My plan for you, and my ability to carry out that plan. All this is done against the backdrop of My covenantal love, mercy and grace. I am your God and I am for you. So heed the words in the psalm – be still and know that I am God.”

Please read Romans 8:17 – 25. We pick up Paul’s teaching on suffering as the second main reason we may feel separated from the love of God. Last time I showed how Paul emphasized the need to get our thinking right in the face of suffering. To see suffering against the light of the glory which is waiting for us when the suffering is over.

Having dealt with the universality of suffering we return now to look at the importance of this hope I just mentioned. Way back in Ch 5 Paul has already raised this matter which he puts down as if the very purpose of suffering is to strengthen our hope: “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character ; and character hope”

Back to ch 8:22 ff. Against the backdrop of suffering (groaning), we Christians (those who have the first fruits of the Spirit) wait eagerly for the our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But earlier hadn’t he said we are already adopted? So you see the reality is that we are adopted now already but we do not fully experience it. It is only once we die and are finally redeemed that we will fully experience the value of our adoption.

So that is our hope. Our focus is not to be on the here and now, because we are not nearly experiencing the full benefits of our salvation yet. So Paul reminds us that all these benefits are still coming and though we cannot see them they are to be our focus and reality, especially when we are suffering.

And what does that call for? Patience. Suffering is the one area where God is most active in growing our faith and from that perseverance and patience. God is not concerned in our ease but in our growth and this is one area which is most important in making us more Christian. Nevertheless, remember all this is being taught against the very intimate picture of our relationship with God in vv 16,17.

Paul is trying to drive this thought home before he focuses on the next help God gives and that is the help of His Spirit, which we will look at next week. God bless you all till then.