Romans 8:17-39

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed, we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subject to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(all bold and italics I’ve added)

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My mom lays paralyzed and slowly dying in a faraway, rural hospital, in the south part of Korea. I don’t know if I can ever see her again. My dad takes care of her but he sits, alone and isolated, counting his days in a lonely motel room. We stay in touch through desperate phone calls to connect and through prayer, getting by day by day and week by week.

I hear of friends and neighbors in trouble and painful hardship. I see anger and hatred in the land and through the internet wires. I see deception and the twisting of good into evil, and evil masquerading as good, and the open mocking of God and christians. They don’t even try to hide it any more.

I see christians afraid to speak the truth. I see leaders fall and followers confused. Everything that was not of God that I’ve trusted in, I see shift and shake. And it makes me turn to Him, and only Him—the only sure thing in a shifting, spinning, twisted world. It gets worse, and standing on a momentary island of sanity and peace, sometimes the fear gets to me. I go to sleep at night, and news and images pass through my mind.

My heart races and I can feel the anxiety trying to flood me. Then I close my eyes and try to remember His words. I open the Bible and read. And those words hit me in a way it never did before. It makes sense, and it speaks to me. Like Romans 8:17- 39. God reassures me through his Word in the Bible. It will be ok. You don’t have to know how. But it will be ok. Trust me. You are in my arms.

He speaks peace and I know it will be ok. It doesn’t mean that the fear won’t come back tomorrow, or even in the next moment. But I know it works out in the end. I don’t know the how, but I know in the end it will work out.

Happy Easter—more than ever, I realize the hope we have—and need—in a Savior who died for each of us, and rose again from the dead so that we don’t need to fear. He is with you—and me—even now, and waiting for us to talk to him about all our fears, anxieties, and heartaches. He hears . . . listens . . . understands . . . and holds us. It will be ok.

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If you want to find out more about God’s plan for new life, it’s not too late, and we can come as we are. He meets us wherever we are because that is the kind of God he is.