~ Good morning! Hope everyone is staying warm today. I think it calls for hot cocoa and some good shows or movies... :) Blessings and peace. ~ Yeah! Right! “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:12 -- The young man’s look scowled disbelief. His words reflected the same. “Yeah, right. I will never again set foot in this church!” His mother’s death to cancer seemed unbearable, and now he learned his father would soon suffer the same. A fellow Christian offered comfort from Romans 8:28, God’s promise to work things for good. That elicited the negative responses. We can understand. Maybe we’ve said it ourselves when some tragedy seems to render any good impossibile. Terrible circumstances can make us feel hopeless and abandoned by God. “Good? From this? Yeah, right.” The promise of Romans 8:28 is, of course, true. Our problem comes when we try to find evidence of the promised good. When we do not see anything good in our suffering, we doubt the promise. But cast doubt aside! We find the evidence in today’s verse. Our God, who did not spare His Son for us, will not abandon us. Our God, who brought the greatest good - eternal life - from the greatest suffering - Jesus on the cross - can bring good from any suffering. “Good? From suffering?” Look to the cross and respond with double positive assurance, “Yeah! Right!” (Lord, help us trust in the cross as evidence of Your good in our suffering. Amen.) -- Romans 8:26-32 New International Version (NIV) 26 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 through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our heartsknows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. More Than Conquerors 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 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? Footnotes: Romans 8:28 Or that all things work together for good to those who love God, who; or that in all things God works together with those who love him to bring about what is good—with those who .. Psalm 22:1-22 New International Version (NIV) For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David. 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.[b] 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.[c] 4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. 8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” 9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. 10 From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. 11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. 12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. 13 Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. 15 My mouth[d] is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce[e] my hands and my feet. 17 All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. 18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. 19 But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. 20 Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. 21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. 22 I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. Footnotes: Psalm 22:1 In Hebrew texts 22:1-31 is numbered 22:2-32. Psalm 22:2 Or night, and am not silent Psalm 22:3 Or Yet you are holy, / enthroned on the praises of Israel Psalm 22:15 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; Masoretic Text strength Psalm 22:16 Dead Sea Scrolls and some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Septuagint and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text me, / like a lion
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 16:08:08 +0000
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