Tag: Romans 8:28

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God’s Good “No” Answers

Dear Sister,

I recently read we should thank the Lord in the midst of our sufferings, in fact for our sufferings. That act draws us closer to Him and helps us through our dark times. In one of my all-time favorite books, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom and her sister do exactly that as they travel roads of unspeakable horror, yet find themselves blessed by God over and over again. My husband and I have also found God’s grace in His “no” answers.

Sometimes, though.

Oh, there are times that my spirit simply cries and hangs on for dear life. I cherish the verses in Romans, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Rom. 8:26-27) No formula, just remain in Him. He pleads for us. With His Father, with God. For us. There couldn’t be a better advocate, no one who understands me better.

How blessed are we?

I had to laugh through tears as I looked up this passage. I know I’ve read the chapter untold times, but until tonight I did not realize that these verses of the Spirit interceding for us is sandwiched between, “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.” (Rom. 8:18) Unspeakable joy to come!

“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.” (Rom. 8:28) Satan’s plans for evil are thwarted by our loving Lord and turned to good.

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:35, 37-39) His assurance we are ever His beloved.

From crying out in desperation, too crushed to even formulate words in defense, to knowing with great surety our trials are not without a purpose, we are conquerors through Jesus—and not just that, but the best we can even dream of is merely a shadow of what is to come. Sweet sister, as you cry in your dark hours, cling to Him—He has great, beautiful plans for your tomorrows!

Running with you,

Rebecca

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Good is Best

Dear Sisters,
As I considered this month’s topic, I originally thought the word “good” was a bit insipid, bland. I mean “great” or “awesome” just pops off the page. Something tremendous must be happening when those adjectives are applied. However, looking through the Word, I was surprised to see how often “good” appeared in some of my favorite passages—even referring to creation, our Savior, and the Gospel.

“God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31a

“How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Isaiah 52:7

“’Well done, good and faithful slave. ‘” Matthew 25:23a

“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.” Romans 8:28

“Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” I Timothy 6:12

Quickly finding “good” in the dictionary in the back of my Bible, I read: “complete, right, commendable.” This added with the insight from the verses above, instead of a lukewarm description, now “good” conjured a picture of deliberate precision, tranquil unity, and comforting assurance. The term doesn’t need to render energy proving itself—it just is. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” John 10:11

Today instead of frenetically chasing today’s worries, sit for a while, taste and see God is good (Psalm 34:8), and be glad. “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad.” Proverbs 12:25
Running with you,
Rebecca

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One-Flesh

Dear Sisters,
The other day, our eldest asked—we knew it was coming. It was just a matter of time until one of the kids did—“Dad, did you fall in love with Mom the first time you met?” She was almost breathless with the anticipated Disney love story. Ryan replied, “No.”
Stunned silence. (I can laugh, now.) Honestly, at that time of our meeting, neither one of us thought of the other in the starry, dreamy way many movies tend to portray lovers. In fact, there are still moments that we don’t feel that Disney-magic for each other. However, we can both look back to one moment in time when we jointly, before witnesses and more importantly, before God, swore to marry one another, to meet each other’s needs in spite of difficulties or comfort, and to remain with each other until death.

At our wedding, something new and unique was created. Something to be nurtured and fed—a part of both Ryan and myself—something God mixed and intended to be strong and full. In the beginning, God made woman from man. He brought her to Adam who recognized Eve was made from his body and then God said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24. Sexually one, yes—but ‘one flesh’ is much more than that small part of our lives.
Too often individuals seem to enter marriage thinking and acting as if they continue to be separate individuals with separate bank accounts and separate medical history—together for the benefit of the feelings they receive from the other, independent in other parts of their lives they wish to reserve for themselves. Because of this, once the feelings recede or difficulties surface, it seems all too easy to ‘dissolve’ the marriage. Unfortunately, it is easy to divorce (on paper)—but the destruction of a living, breathing marriage is a travesty. I have wept bitter tears hearing of and seeing the end of marriages of friends. My heart is wrung wondering about the children—and knowing both halves of the torn marriage are shattered. Yet, thanks be to God!—even in the midst of divorce, God is our Redeemer and our Hope! I am so grateful that even my worst decisions are not a hindrance to His great plans for me—simply something He uses to teach His child and to ultimately accomplish His plan (Romans 8:28).

Marriage was not created to be a simple ‘social contract’—cancelled when its usefulness runs out—though marriages do benefit society in protecting the family and raising adults who can function in our world, to their own and others’ benefit. The process of becoming ‘one flesh’ was a glimpse of Christ interacting with His Church. He loves the Church even to the point of sacrificing His life for her, and she is to respect Him. Paul calls it a “great mystery” in Ephesians. Certainly Jesus’ thoughts and actions are mysterious—wholly unlike our self-tainted views. I mean—sacrifice? Who in their right minds marches up to the altar and commits to sacrifice for someone else?!

There is a great amount of flowery love-talk, but the actual “doing” of love is often absent. A wedding is like the vision you have when someone says they are going to the hospital to give birth to a baby. You picture a cute, cuddly, clean, sleeping baby. However, after birthing five children, I can tell you, the vision is more realistically a frazzled dad hovering over a sweating, yelling woman who works the hardest she ever has to produce an equally noisy, messy baby.

So, our earthly ‘one flesh’ process is quite a lot less of the mysterious and dreamy one-ness and a heck of a lot more like the messy, hard work one-ness. That hard work is our forever curse here on earth: saying, “No” to my own selfish desires, and seeking instead to serve the other. We create something beautiful together here on earth, though: a marriage together—beauty that Christ likewise intends for His bride.

Running with you,
Rebecca

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Patiently Waiting

My dear sister,

“I want it now!” is what I find myself saying to God tonight as I selfishly and impatiently relay to God all the reasons why I should have this thing that has become so important to me. “I don’t want to wait until Thursday. I don’t want to wait for more wisdom. I know what I want and I want it now!”

At times I find myself pondering the thought that God might be looking down at me and laughing at the predicaments I get myself into and the impatience that I typically respond to those circumstances with. I have also noticed how often in God’s Providence the topic for which I am about to write is the very thing that is testing my faith! All that to say; How gracious it is of God to allow me to be struggling with patience this month as I sit here writing this to you!

Are you going through a particularly difficult time in your life? Has the Lord responded to your prayers simply by saying, “Wait.”? Are you struggling to be patient through this time of uncertainty? If yes, then I am right there with you. Waiting on the Lord is hard and being told to wait may even be worse than a flat out no. Having to trust the Lord through the in between times is not terribly fun. It’s actually really hard.

I was at my aunt’s house about to babysit my cousins on Saturday night. Before my aunt and uncle left my 4 year old cousin was repeatedly asking for a cookie in a less than pleasant voice. “You have to stop whining if you want a cookie, ” my uncle said. “I’m not whining!” my little cousin whined in response.

Wow. Do I sure feel like my little cousin this week. I know what I want and I think that everyone else should cater to my desire and give it to me now. How selfish! And how immature! I’m acting like a four year old! Even more than being selfish, my attitude tells God that I’m the one who knows what’s best for me and that I should be the one calling the shots. Could I be anymore arrogant?

Remembering the events of last night regarding my own personal situation, I realized that I said some things to a dear friend that I should not have said. I think, “If I had only been patient I would not have acted so selfishly!” But unfortunately I let my desire overtake my reason and instead of waiting upon the Lord to bring about the final results in His timing and in His way I took matters into my own hands. What a mistake that was, dear one.

Romans 5 has been my companion through these last few days. It says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Are you going through a trial right now, dear one? Has the Lord told you to wait when you don’t want to wait? Remember this verse. God is working in you and teaching you things now that will be for your good and to your advantage in the future. Remember that Romans 5 is true and that we will need endurance, character, and hope no matter what the Lord calls us to or what circumstances He puts us in. Trust and be encouraged by the truth of Romans 8:28 that the Lord does indeed work all things for the good of those who love Him.

I know what you’re going through right now is difficult and I know that you don’t want to be here very long but you need to wait. You need to, as the psalmist entreats us, ‘be still and know that I am God.” Pray for patience and pray for peace. The Lord will grant you both and remember ‘not one good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly’ (Psalm 84:11) God has our best interests at heart no matter how the circumstances may appear. Trust Him to bring the rainbow through the rain.

Under His wing,

Kayla

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The Beauty of Suffering

Dear sister,

I wish you were there so we could have sat together, but this day I sat alone, on the edge of my bed with my head in my hands, crying…again. It was years ago, but I didn’t understand why God had placed me in that difficult situation. It was a set of circumstances that seemed impossible, and joy and thanks even harder. I felt bitterness beginning to set in, and at some points in that journey, I didn’t really care. I know you also have suffered deeply in this fallen world…and perhaps asked ‘why me, God?’ You are not alone. The Bible tells us we will face trials and tribulations in this world, and not to be surprised because of this (1 Peter 4:12). But often a sense of injustice rises up in us….’what did I do to deserve this, you might ask?’ Oh sister, do not give in to that lie. You are not being punished. (And what we truly deserve is far worse than any trial.) There are redemptive reasons for suffering. Stay with me, and find hope in God’s Word.

As hard as it may be to hear right now, all suffering is ultimately for the glory of God. I struggle with this one, as perhaps you might too, but I believe it is the best place for us to start. How can a bloody war, a sexually abused woman, an angry boss, and a wayward husband bring glory to God, you wonder? In many ways they don’t. Sin separates us from God; it never glorifies Him. The key point, however, is what God does to redeem and restore all things, and use them for great purposes in His kingdom. You may not have travelled long enough in your journey with a current struggle to see any way that God could use your pain for good, but we must cling to God’s Word, and believe that He can do this (Romans 8:28). May I remind you also, dear sister, of Lazarus’ story? ”When Jesus heard it [that Lazarus was very sick], He said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Dear sister, may I remind you that suffering gives us the unique chance to comfort others? Read with me in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” Please do not give up in your discouragement, my sister, God wants to use your pain and trials to comfort others in the family of God. Pray that He will do so, and keep your heart open to this possibility. Do not give in to bitterness, as I was tempted to do, in my deep pain. I know you have the faith to hang on, and even more, you have a great God that will see you through.

Oh sister, take heart, as I will end with the most beautiful redemptive purpose of all: suffering will deepen your intimacy with and faith in Christ. Our Father loves us so deeply, and longs for us to be intimately united in faith to our Bridegroom, His beloved Son Christ Jesus. Lean into this trial you face, do not run from it, and allow the Lord to whisper His promises over your weary heart and soul. Ask for His grace, for it is all-sufficient grace! Remember please, what our brother, Paul said concerning the fellowship found in suffering with Christ…(Romans 8:17 and Philippians 3:10)

My prayer for you, for me, is that we would embrace each trial as a gift of grace from the Lord. “Everything is needful that He sends; nothing can be needful that He withholds.” (John Newton)

In Christian love, your sister–Ruth