Dear People of God,

Today, we continue our devotions on Romans 8, looking at verses 18-30.

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“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” – Romans 8:18-21

Hearing these words from Paul in the time that we find ourselves in right now just makes me want to shout, “Preach!” You would think that the Apostle must have had some sort of vision into what was in store for the world today for him to write these words that seem so descriptive of our own “here and now”.

But, even though this is all “new” to us, there have been other epidemics and pandemics before.  Sure, some of them never affected us in our country to the extent as the current one has, while others have. It’s all a part of history.  And even Paul himself may have known similar times of plague and pestilence as well, either personally or by knowing the history from his day.

Paul’s words speak to us today because these times where we have heard and seen “the whole of creation groaning” have been happening since that fateful day in Eden when our First Parents traded life in Paradise for the serpent’s lies. Since that day, sin and death have held its terrible sway over the whole of the creation which God had declared “good”. It was not that the creation stopped being good, but that our sinfulness brought a brokenness into it, a brokenness that we ourselves cannot heal. And this brokenness manifests itself in so many different ways, including this current crisis we find happening throughout the world today.

So we cry out to God at this time, rightly turning to Him for His powerful mercy to be displayed among us by bringing this terrible disease to an end. And we believe that God can and will do this. Yet, when He does, will that be the end of our troubles? Actually, no. There will be more. Jesus reminded us of this: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains” (Mt. 24:6-8).

If we want to see the end of all of this suffering, then we need to wait for “the sons of God to be revealed”. On the day of our Lord’s return, the new creation He began through His life, death, and resurrection will be brought to its complete fulfillment, and there in that new heaven and new earth we look forward to seeing no sorrow or pain, no sickness or death, no sorrow and every tear wiped away, for God Himself will be our life and joy eternally. This is our hope–a hope which will carry us through this time of crisis, and through the next one, and on and on until God carries us and all of creation into His eternity.

In this hope, we know that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness” and helps us to pray in this time where we may not have the words. I believe that if we listen closely, we may hear the Spirit’s prayers with and for us. He is praying for our strength, our healing, and for our faith not to waver.  He is praying for us to remain strong in our calling to be the children of God. He is praying for us to be faithful in our love for God through our loving our neighbor. And He is moving us to pray, perhaps even more fervently, the prayer that has been on the lips of God’s people for centuries: “Even so, Lord Jesus, quickly come!”

But until then, let us continue to live by faith, in hope, and with love, all to the glory of God.

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Thanks as always for taking the time to read these thoughts. Lord willing, I hope to conclude these devotions tomorrow with a look at Romans 8:31-39.

Also tomorrow, please be looking for not only that devotion but also information on how we as a Trinity Family will be keeping Holy Week and Easter together this year.

Until then, “May the Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent one from another”!

Peace and blessings,
+Pastor