No Comparison (Romans 8:18-23)

This past week we saw the continuing reports about the flooding in Texas, much of it centered around a Christian camp for girls.  As the week went on the death toll kept rising … and many are still missing.

I thought of all the parents who had lost their children. I was especially touched by the report of twin girls who were found holding each other as they died.

And then I thought of all the parents … and the grief and sadness that they were now experiencing … and it brought to mind the passing of my Rachel a little over a year ago.

A day doesn’t go by when I don’t think of her … with memories that bring me both joy and sadness … and often … tears.

Those parents … and indeed all the family members whose loved ones were washed away in the flood will be experiencing the gamut of emotions … sadness … pain … suffering … grief … and in some of the memories — joy and thankgiving.

It reminded me of the age old question … why do bad things happen to good people?

And then in my preparation for this week I began reading the first words of our Epistle Lesson from Romans 8:

““For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.””

… and I thought … how appropriate in light of the events in that town in Texas. 

But it didn’t end there. 

As the week went on there were more reports about flooding in different areas of our country with more loss of life … earthquakes … fires and other natural disasters.

However we get our news … we see continual reminders of suffering and sadness all around the world.

And yet we read: ““For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.””

Two things must be immediately said — there will be suffering … but then something better will be revealed — glory … which we can safely say is beyond comprehension.

So … what does this mean for us as Christians as we see all the suffering … in others … and even in our own lives?

One of the things that came to mind … something that I have thought a lot about in the past year with the death of my daughter — is the clear … immutable fact that no one … whatever age … no one dies before their time.

Psalm 139 … the great pro-life psalm … says: ““Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.””

I think about this verse often … my daughter was almost 39 … the children that passed this week were a lot younger … pre-teens … and some young adults … and yet we read: 

““And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.””

J.C. Ryle said: “All the powers of the world cannot take away my life, until God permits. All the physicians of the earth cannot preserve it, when God calls me away.”

As hard as it is sometimes to accept … we have to acknowledge that what happens is according to the divine will and purpose of God … including our beginning and our end.

We may not understand … we may be grieved by it … we may ask why? … we may shed many tears …

We might remember our Savior’s prayer in garden just prior to his arrest … where Jesus said:

“““O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.””

In our Burial Service, we pray:

“O LORD, our God, who art the disposer of human events, in whom we live and move and have our being; We beseech thee to grant us that sense of thy presence, which will enable us to see that thy wisdom and love are involved in this dispensation of thy Providence.”

So … we have to accept that God is the disposer of all human events … and we can say … that if God is not in complete and absolute control … then He is not the God who has revealed Himself in the Bible.

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The next thing that we must acknowledge is that no one is exempt from suffering, heartache, sadness or grief.

Even the most righteous … faithful and religious person are not exempt.

Think of Job … here’s how he is described: ““There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.””

And yet … accord to the divine will of God … he suffered many thing … and lost all his earthly family and possessions.

Then we read … at the end … ““Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning;”” and then it lists all that the Lord gave him.

We can say that this is the glory that was revealed to him.

This is a clear Biblical example … but all we have to do is look at our immediate families and see how true is that fact that everyone suffers at some time in their lives.

This has it’s root in the fact that there are no good people — from God’s perspective.

The scriptures are absolutely clear on this.

Earlier in Romans Paul says: ““As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.””

This is actually a quote from Psalm 14:1-3.

In Psalm 58 we read: ““The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.””

Even babies … who we view as innocent … are not.

As God tells us we are sinners from the moment of conception — ““Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”” Psalm 51:5

Yes … people may do good things … righteous things … things that benefit society as a whole …

… but at it’s root: ““There is none who does good, no, not one.””

It is because we are sinners living in a sinful world that there will be suffering … even for the believer … even for those who have trusted in Christ as Savior and Lord.

Paul tell us in Ephesians 1, that — as Christians — we have been adopted into the family of God.

““just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,…”” 

This is similar to what he has said just prior to our passage from Romans 8:

““For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.””

Notice clearly that as Christ suffered … we will suffer also … even though we are part of God’s family …

Our Savior experienced that same things that we do … pain … hunger … sorrow … grief.

As we read in Hebrews 4: ““For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.””

If that’s all there is … guaranteed suffering … it would be pretty sad indeed.  We might as well give up … resign ourselves to the fact that we will suffer and there’s nothing we can do about it.

But it does end there … what do we read in verse 18 … ““For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”” 

Paul knew that something infinitely better was in his future … and our passage confirms this … ““because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God….”“ 

This is why he tells us in Philippians 1:21: ““ For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”” and …

““We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.””

I know … beyond all doubt … that my beloved Rachel is in the presence of her God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Her earthly suffering was great … but … as we read … it cannot be compared to the glory that has been revealed to her.

In the midst of our grief and suffering the promise of something better is what has sustained us .

I read some of the testimonies of the parents who lost children from that Christian camp … and while there was sadness and intense emotional suffering … there was also faith and hope … hope in God and the comfort that comes from His Word.

Quite frankly … I don’t know how those without faith do it. I don’t know how those that have no hope handle the suffering and grief that come upon all of us.

And so … my friends … in spite of the suffering … the grief … the sadness … the sorrow that we come our way … we know what awaits … we know that at some point glory will be revealed to us.

As Peter tells in his 1^st Letter:

““Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.””

This is what awaits us … a perfect place … an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled  … for those whom God has called us out of darkness into the light of His salvation … and that is why Peter could confidently say: ““ …  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials …””

And so we know two great things … as God’s children … as those who are part of His family … we know that we are not exempt from suffering and grief in our earthly lives … but we know … beyond all doubt … 

…  We have God’s promise … that at some point … His glory will be revealed to us.

Let us take comfort in these words … and Praise be to God!