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The irony of pain and suffering, or one of the ironies, is that it’s really the shortest route to God. When the bottom drops out and things suddenly, overnight, or in a moment, or in a phone call, go wrong, everybody--believers, unbelievers, agnostics, atheists--everybody, suddenly, there’s a moment in which it’s "Look up." It’s really the shortest route to God. There’s a very famous quote and, possibly, if you’ve grown up or been around Christians for very long, you’ve heard it. It’s by a guy named C. S. Lewis, and here’s what he said. He said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." Whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, and shouts in our pain.
And everybody listening to this message, all of us, have had, through pain, God shout at us. Or, that’s what it feels like because, suddenly, no matter what we’re doing, what we believe, suddenly, there’s a sense in which we look up and we ask the question, we ask it in lots of different ways but, essentially, we want to know this. We want to know "Why?" And why we want to know why is because it’s in you and it’s in me to want to make sense out of things. And in knowing why, it won’t make the pain go away, but there’s something about us that if we can begin to connect the little dots in our lives and in our world so that things begin to make sense, there’s a sense in which we feel like we can endure the pain and endure the loss and endure the suffering better or more sanely if, somehow, we can connect these little dots and make sense out of things.
And, so, we look up and then we look down and then we begin to ask why. Why, God? Why me? Why him? She’s so young. Why now? Why them? Why this? Why this way? Not again. Why would you let this happen again? All the different why questions and, essentially, behind the why questions is "You or somebody has got to help me make sense out of this. I’ve got to be able to connect these dots. There has to be a purpose in my pain. You’ve got to help me make sense out of my suffering. I’ve got to see that somehow this is leading to something good."
And so we begin to look around our lives to try to piece things together, and maybe this happened because two years ago, I did this. And maybe this happened because three years ago, and if I had been paying better attention, and if I’d have been a better parent, if I’d have been a better husband, if I’d have been a better wife, if my parents hadn’t. Somehow, I’ve got to somehow connect the dots. Because if I can understand why, if I can make sense out of this, if there’s some bigger picture, if this is going somewhere good, if there’s some greater good, then somehow I might be able to endure it. But if this is just random, if there’s no purpose, if there’s no explanation, then there goes my faith. And yeah, God may shout at me through the pain, but once I glimpse up quickly and glimpse back down and see that this doesn’t make any sense at all, there goes my faith. There goes my confidence in God. There goes my ability to pray. Because in you and in me there’s something that says, even though answering why won’t make the pain any easier or make it go away, somehow I can endure it if somehow there’s a context for this pain.
Now, you’ve experienced this at a different level. Because anytime you elect for pain--and all of us have had situations where we have elective pain--you know what I mean? Where you chose to do something that’s painful because there’s a greater good or something at the other end of the process that you think is going to make your life better. I mean, every time I see somebody that has something unusual pierced, you know what I mean? I mean, don’t you do this? When you see somebody that has, not their ears, but other than ears, you see somebody who has an unusual piercing, don’t you have this question, don’t you think, "Gee, that must have hurt"? Yeah, that’s what you think, too, going, "Oh, I guess that’s cool, but give me a minute, because my first thought is that there’s cartilage there. That must’ve hurt." And then you realize, you know what? They knew going in that that was going to hurt and that wasn’t like a shock. Gee, that hurt when you drove that thing through my whatever. You know, that wasn’t a shock, right? And I’m not against piercings. I’m just saying, I fear pain more than you do. That’s basically what keeps me from having multiple piercings, besides losing my job.
But, anyway, those two things, which is another fear of pain. See, it all comes back to pain. But, anyway, I have to fire myself. But the point is when you think there is something good to be accomplished because of pain, it’s amazing, we will endure all kinds of pain in order to accomplish something good.
About a, a year ago--I won’t tell you the whole story--but I ended up spending four and a half hours in a tattoo parlor with some of my family members. I was there to sort of oversee and make sure things didn’t get out of control, or at least that was my self-imposed explanation for being at the tattoo parlor for four and a half hours at night in Macon, Georgia. And after spending the first two hours looking at every tattoo they had . . . and there’s thousands of them.
If you’re a tattoo person--if not, I would say you should go--but, anyway, it was just amazing. I mean, I was totally shocked ’cause that’s just not the world I live in, and the things that people put on their bodies and, you know, Elvis and my aunt and my . . . just all this stuff. Then, after I finished looking through all the tattoos on little poster things that you do, then I sat down as I waited. And I’ve heard that tattooing is painful, but seeing somebody get tattooed, it’s very painful and they would have to stop and rest a minute, then go back and rest. These are people I love and they’re doing this to themselves because, in their minds, the pain was worth something on the other end. So, while I waited for them to hurt themselves for this greater good, which I’m not discounting. We’ve all opted for pain for a greater good at some point in our lives.
I sat down--this is kind of just a sidebar--and I’m looking through this magazine at all these tattoos. There’s like, you can subscribe to Tattoo Magazine. It’s pretty cool. And I flipped through, and about a quarter of a page on this one page is, like, the ugliest man I think I’ve ever seen, the face of this guy. And I was like, yuck. I turned the page and then I paused and I turned back and I looked at it and I realized that’s not the face of a man. That’s the back of a bald man’s head, and he had a face tattooed to the back of his head. An entire face. If you walked up behind him, you would think he was looking . . . it looked exactly like some . . . just an ugly face on the back of his bald head. A whole face. It looked exactly like a face. And I’m going--can you imagine the pain of that needle going in your scalp over and over and over and over and over and over, and it looked like one of those where he had to come back for a second and third time to get all the colors and all. He had a whole head. And the worst thing was he couldn’t even see it. It’s not like, "Hey, you wanna see my rose," you know? It’s like, "Hey, you wanna see my friend," you know? It was just like "Whoa." I thought, "I can’t imagine the pain of having that needle stuck in my scalp thousands and thousands of times so that I could have somebody’s face on the back of my head." It was like, huh? But you know what? This guy planned it out, had it drawn, went in there and decided, "I’m gonna endure this pain because this pain makes sense to me. And since it makes sense to me, since there’s something I’m gonna accomplish on the other end, I’m fine with it."
Now, all of us, to some extent, have had some elective pain. And the reason we elect it, the reason we choose it is because there’s something on the other end that makes it purposeful. There’s something on the other end that makes it make sense. That’s how we’re wired. So, we shouldn’t be surprised that when the legs get kicked out from underneath us financially, or one of our children, or our health, or our career, or something happens and, suddenly, we didn’t elect it, it’s just there, what’s our first inclination?
Our first inclination is to say, "Okay, I’ve got to make sense of this. I’ve got to understand the purpose. There’s got to be a greater good. There’s got to be a context in which this makes sense. And immediately, we look to the only one that could potentially, you know, define or create a context for pain, and we look to God. And, then, when we look to God and don’t hear anything or see anything, for most of us, we look back into our worlds and we start saying things like, "What did I do to cause this? What did I, what can I do to, you know, turn this around? What can I do to make sure this doesn’t happen again? Is this somehow my fault? Who’s fault, was this my husband’s fault? Is this her fault? I, I need an explanation." There’s got to be a purpose. There’s got to be a context.
And that’s natural. All of us do it to some extent. Jesus did this to some extent, and I don’t fully understand this thing I’m about to quote but, you know, here’s Jesus who predicted his own death. He predicted his own resurrection. And, yet, when he was in the middle of it hanging on the cross, what did he say? He said, "My God, my God, why did you forsake me?"
"Jesus, you already explained it."
"I know I explained it, but in the middle of it, I need a reminder. I need to know that there’s a greater good. I need to know there’s a purpose, because right now all I feel, all I’m experiencing is abandonment." And in his pain, he called out to his heavenly Father saying, "I need context."
There’s the story of Lazarus, and Lazarus was the friend of Jesus. You may have heard this story before. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. Lazarus was sick and they called for Jesus--maybe you’ve heard this before--and Jesus didn’t come. He knew Lazarus was sick. He said, "Ah, let’s wait here."
Lazarus dies and they bury him . . . then Jesus comes. And Mary and Martha find Jesus at different times on the road and ask him the question in their way, the question we all ask when we face pain and suffering. They said to Jesus, "Jesus, why didn’t you come? You could have kept him from dying. Why didn’t you come? Why are you coming now? Why are you late? Would you please make sense of this, because in the middle of this, in the midst of this, in the meantime, this doesn’t make sense. And Jesus, I know that once you tell us why you’re late, it’s not going to bring Lazarus back. And I know that once you tell us why you didn’t come when we think you should’ve come, I know it’s not going to make the pain go away. But it just helps us to know. It just helps us to understand the context. It just helps us to have some explanation. I’m not asking you to bring him back from the dead. I just . . . if you’ll just answer some of my ’why’ questions, I think I can get through."
That’s in you and that’s in me. The problem is this --and if you don’t hear anything else I say--here’s the front end of the message that is the starting point for some of us. When God cries out to you, or when you suddenly find yourself looking in God’s direction because of unexplained and unexpected suffering and pain, if you look to him and then eventually drop your focus back into the context of your little itty-bitty world and my little itty-bitty world, the answer is not found there. It is not found there.
We try to connect the dots. We try to put the pieces together. We want to understand why. And everybody I’ve ever talked to, 100 percent of the people I’ve ever talked to, who I’ve sat down and they went through tremendous loss, they always wanted, they always want me to help them connect the dots within the context of their lives. And as Christians, we have some weird kind of roads we go down. And I’m not saying I wouldn’t do this, and I’m not even saying they’re bad. They’re just insufficient. We do things like, well, you know, while she was dying, this nurse came in and the nurse felt like there was something different about our family, and so maybe the reason she was dying was to reach that nurse. I understand why we do things like that. That’s not the answer.
And we try to piece things together so that maybe there’s good that comes from this. And, you know, once this thing happened to my son, but he met this girl and then she came to the church and, and maybe the whole thing was so that that girl could come to church. That’s not it. But I don’t blame you for looking. I would look, too. Why? Because there’s something in us that says, "Give me context. Give me purpose. I want to connect the dots."
So, today I want to connect the dots for all of us. Not because I’m smart, but because, fortunately, when God had some people pen his Word, he connected them for all of us. I want to give you the context for all of your suffering and all of my suffering. And like any explanation, this doesn’t make it go away. But you already know that. When we ask the question why, we know the answer to why isn’t going to make it go away. But we just have to know there’s a context. We have to know it’s not random. We have to know that it’s not because God was sitting in the other room reading a magazine while we were in here going through this pain and that he didn’t--he either knew about it and didn’t care or didn’t know about it at all. We have to, there’s something in me that cries out "There’s got to be some purpose. There’s got to be some explanation."
So, today, I’d like to give you the explanation. And it’s just like we saw in the opening video. You will always be tempted to examine your pain and your suffering and your loss within the context of your life alone. And if you don’t hear anything else I say, hear this. The answer is not there. And I know people who have spent years and years and years and years running from God and angry at God because they got so focused here. And who could blame them? I would never be critical. Looking for purpose, looking for reason, looking for explanation, they’d say, "God, why?" and then they’d look here and, "God, why?" and they’d look here trying to connect the dots. And, fortunately, 2,000 years ago, God connected three big dots for us that give us the context for all the suffering we will experience in this world. And it doesn’t take it away, but it will give you the foundation you need to get through it.
Now, two more disclaimers real quick. First, the answer is not emotionally satisfying, and that’s important to understand. In other words, the answer isn’t, "Well, Andy, after I heard that sermon, I just feel better about the fact that I haven’t had a job in six months" It’s not that. "I feel better." No. You remember, ’cause you know this. When you elect to have something pierced, knowing that it’s going to be cool on the other end, it does not do anything to diminish the pain. It gets you through the pain. And the same is true of this answer. And the second thing I’d say is this. This is an explanation for Christians.
If you’re here today and you’re not a person who’s embraced Christianity or you’ve not embraced Christ or you’ve got some questions or you’re still on the outside looking in . . . and we’re so glad you’re here, cause we’ve all been on the outside looking in, and there are some really tough questions that get in the way sometimes of embracing Christianity. Here’s what I want to say to you. I can’t even speak intelligently into your pain or your suffering, because I’ve been in situations as a pastor, as you might imagine. I’m the son of a pastor. So, I’ve been in this world for a long, long time. I’ve seen men and women who understand what I’m about to explain to you today.
I’ve seen men and women face unimaginable hardship and they’re just like rock stars. They’re amazing. I mean, they stand up in funerals and say things that just jack my faith up and shame me because they’re so . . . I’ve seen kids stand up at their parents’ funerals. I’ve seen parents talk about the children they’ve lost. And you just go, "Whatever is in them, I want some of that." I’ve seen that.
But I’ve also walked through pain and suffering with some men and women who did not have any context for their lives except their lives. And I’ve come home from those funerals and I’ve come home from those conversations, and 100 percent of the time I say to Sandra or whoever I’m with, "I don’t know how you face that kind of loss. And I don’t know how you survive it. And I don’t know how you ever get life back together in any kind of semblance of, you know, life as you want life to be." I don’t know how you do that without the context of a heavenly Father, without the promise of his son, who loved you enough to die for you. I don’t know how it’s done. I don’t know that there’s hope, because I’m telling you, outside of the context I’m giving you today, listen, listen, listen, life is 100 percent random.
It’s just random. There are no guarantees. There are no promises. There are no necessarily happy endings or happy landings outside. And what I’m going to tell you today, I don’t even know how to talk intelligently to the person that’s faced that kind of suffering without the context I’m going to give you today. I know people survive it. I know people get through. But I want you to know something. The very God that you may be angry at for what he allowed to happen to you is the very God that’s given us three big dots, and he’s connected them for us. And you know what? They’re not the little dots of your little life. They’re the big dots of a God who controls eternity.
If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me to the book of Romans. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Complicated book. These are complicated verses. I tried and tried, especially last night as I was studying, to get rid of some of these verses. There’s too many. But this is so rich. And you know what? For some of you, this sermon may be like "Whoa." I’m sure somebody understood that. You just need to mark your Bibles, because some day, you’re going to want to come back to these, this passage, because in this passage, Paul meticulously, the Apostle Paul meticulously takes us through this whole idea of what’s the context for all of our suffering for all of us, and he gives us three big dots and he connects them. And I want to give you the dots before we look at the passage.
The dots are this. In the beginning, in the meantime, and in the end. It’s in the beginning, in the meantime, and in the end. Would you say that with me? In the beginning, in the meantime, and in the end. That’s the context.
Let me read these verses. Romans, Chapter 8, verse 18. Romans 8:18. He says, "I consider that our present sufferings . . ." [And here’s a guy who was not a stranger to suffering. If you know anything about Paul, he’d been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, lost his family, lost his money, lost his career, lost his, just lost everything] He elected to follow Jesus. "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed." And, suddenly, he pulls us out of our present context and says, "Oh, yeah, there’s something in the future. That’s in the end. There’s ’in the beginning,’ ’in the meantime,’ and ’in the end.’ Oh yeah. We’re looking to the end here for just a second."
We’re like, "Paul, but I want to talk about now."
Paul’s going, "Oh, now’s bad, but what’s happening now is nothing to be compared to the end." And all of the sudden, he begins to wrench us out of our current context when it comes to suffering.
Verse 19. "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed." Again, looking to the future.
We’re going, "Okay, what are you talking about, ’sons of God to be revealed’?"
And it’s like Paul stops and goes, "Oh, maybe they don’t know what I’m talking about."
To which we’re going, "We have no idea what you’re talking about, ’sons of God to be revealed.’"
Then Paul takes us from the ’in the end’ and takes us all the way back to the ’in the beginning’ and walks us through these big three dots.
Verse 20. Here’s the first dot. "For" [explanation, that’s what the little word "for" means], "For the creation," [Now he’s taking us all the way back to the beginning.] Here’s the first dot you’ve got to connect. "For the creation was subjected to frustration." That word carries the weight of depravity or perversion. "For creation," [everything that was created, heavens and earth, the people, everything that was created] "was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice but by the will of the one who subjected it."
You’re going, "Well, that helps me a lot."
Now, here’s what he’s talking about. He’s saying, "Look. Here’s what you need to understand. Here’s the big context. In the beginning, sin entered the world and God judged the whole world."
You’re going, "Well, I wasn’t there. It doesn’t matter."
God judged the whole world. He judged creation. He judged the relationship between the creation. He judged the globe. He judged the people. He judged everything when sin entered the world, death followed sin, and God judged the whole world. And so the whole world, from the very beginning, when sin entered the world, has been cursed and has been judged, and sin has reigned and had its way every since. That’s the first big dot.
He goes on, "in hope," [last two words, verse 21] "that the creation itself will be," [there’s the future] "will be liberated from its bondage to decay." Do you know why your back aches when you get up in the morning if you’re over 40? It’s because you’re in bondage to decay. Do you know why you can’t see anymore after 40? You’re in bondage to decay.
You’re going, "No, it’s because I’m related to my dad and he couldn’t see."
You know, he was in bondage to decay too. All of us--news flash--we are in bondage to decay. I’m going, "God, why did this happen?"
God’s going, "Cause you’re in bondage; you’re decaying." The whole world’s decaying.
"Maybe if I hadn’t, it wouldn’t have."
God’s going, "Well, you can talk about that all you want. Those are little, itty-bitty insignificant dots. Let me tell you about the big dot. Sin entered the world. And ever since sin entered the world, death followed, and death reigned. And everything is in bondage to decay. Everything."
"God, why did this happen to me?"
"Cause you are in bondage to decay."
"What did I do to cause this?"
"Born."
"Oh. It’s not A plus B?"
"Well, sometimes, but not necessarily."
"And brought into this glorious freedom of the children of God," verse 22. "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up until this," [now we’re getting into the in the meantime] "right up until this present time."
He’s going, "Let me just give you your history. Sin entered the world. Everything’s been decaying and been upside down since. It’s not just that something in your world broke. The whole world’s broken. It’s not just that something in your marriage broke. The whole world’s broken. It’s not just that something in one of your kids broke. The whole world’s broken. It’s not just that something in your career broke. The whole world is broken. And what happened to your child, your health or your career, it’s just a manifestation of a much bigger thing that’s going on when sin entered the world and death reigned, and the world has been groaning under the burden of since ever since."
It’s why things just don’t work out sometimes. It’s why things go wrong. It’s why you wanted to have a bunch of kids. You’ve not had any kids. It’s why you wanted to have healthy kids and they weren’t necessarily healthy. It’s why you aimed them in this direction and, all of a sudden, your kids went in that direction.
Two days ago, I talked to a good friend who just had to ship his son off to a rehab deal, and he told me, "Andy," [and this is a very successful, manly guy] he said, "I did not know the body had that many tears." He said, "My wife and I, we just wept and wept and wept and wept and went ’Why?’" And, of course, he’s asking, like I would, "What did I do wrong as a parent?" I don’t know. I’m not even sure that’s worth exploring. When sin entered the world, death reigned. And there is decay and there is a tension and there’s a downward spiral, and none of us are exempt. Once you were born into this world, you were born broken, into a broken world. Hip, hip, hooray, right?
It goes on. He said . . . that’s sort of in the beginning. Let’s talk about in the meantime. Verse 23: "Not only so, but we ourselves," [right now he’s catching up] "but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits . . ." [now, this is kind of spiritual lingo, here] "have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies." The redemption of our what? Let’s say it aloud. The redemption of our what? Our bodies. He’s going, okay, "There is something that happened to you when you became a Christian." Here’s what he’s talking about. When you trust Christ as your Savior [you’ve probably heard this], the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. For some of you, you knew when it happened because you never smoked again, you never drank again, your language cleared up, your husband went, and "You’re like a different person."
For others of you, the cigarettes went away, but you just kept on drinking. That’s been a struggle. Or, you know, the opposite. For some of you, there was no manifestation at all and people were going, "I don’t think it took. I think you need to pray that prayer again." But sometimes, when the Holy Spirit comes into a life, I’m telling you, there is like a WHOA kind of a difference. And, sometimes, it’s just not that marked. But when you became a Christian, the Holy Spirit came to live in you, and [here’s what the Bible says] it was like a down payment of something that’s yet to come. It’s like God made a first installment of your salvation. He saved your soul. He did not save your body. Because all of creation is under a curse, and God sent Jesus into the world and said, "You know what I’ll do? I’m gonna reach in. I’m gonna start making inside of you something new . . . a new heart . . . but I’m not gonna do anything about your body."
"God, why do I feel so bad? Why am I sick? Why, why?"
"Because you were born, and your body is still subject to decay [in the beginning sin entered the world] but in the meantime, you will continue to feel the effects of the sin in this world as it relates to your body."
But he gives us a little bit of good news. Verse 24: "For in this hope we were saved." What hope? The hope of our future adoption. That there’s an adoption that still has to take place. That there’s a connection and a thing between you and God that hasn’t happened yet, and it’s going to impact, apparently, your physical being. "For in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?" He’s basically saying, "Look, it’s hope. So, the reasons it’s not fulfilled, the reason things don’t get better, the reason everybody doesn’t get healed, the reason everything doesn’t work out is because this is something you’re hoping for." If it all worked out, there would be no hope. We live, in the meantime, in the world of hope. In the beginning, sin entered. In the meantime, we have hope.
He goes on, "But," verse 25, "But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." We wait for it patiently. That means that in light of the past, in the meantime, in the world I live in, in the world you live in, and the circumstances we live in, many of the circumstances we wish we could change, we don’t like, he says that our angle, our take on all of this is to lean forward, waiting for the ultimate redemption of our bodies, our children’s bodies, our parents’ bodies, our loved ones’ bodies, that we wait eagerly. We don’t lose hope, because now we understand why things are happening. It’s not my fault. It’s not that I should have been a better parent, necessarily. It’s not that I should have, you know, if I had worked harder this wouldn’t have happened. You know, not that I should’ve married better, necessarily. I mean, it’s always kind of fun to try to, you know, connect those dots. But, ultimately, when sin entered, it set me up to struggle. It set me up to suffer. It set me up to have to look to the future when my salvation is completed. Because, in the meantime, I have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of me, but it does almost nothing for my physical body or the physical environment in which I live. And the same is true for you.
Verse 26, "In the same way," [this is the great part] "in the same way the Spirit," [that’s the Holy Spirit that lives inside of you if you’re a Christian] "in the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness." You know what that means? It means that you have weaknesses. It means when you feel weak you should say, "I’m normal."
I’m struggling. "I’m normal."
I’m not doing very well. "I’m normal."
I’m feeling the weight of this world. "You’re normal."
God predicted it. Paul, who hasn’t even met you, 2,000 years ago goes, "Look. You’re living in a decaying world in a decaying body. Some days are just going to be bad. Some seasons of life are going to be bad. It’s just going to be tough, but don’t make the mistake of looking in the near vicinity and saying, ’What’s wrong with me?’ and, ’What did I do wrong?’ and, ’Maybe if I hadn’t, if he hadn’t, and if she hadn’t.’" Paul’s going, "Okay, maybe, but what you’re experiencing and what you’re struggling with is because you live in a judged world. And some days are great, but overall it’s a decaying world. It’s evidence that there’s sin, that it’s real." And the only way to sort through it is to take our eyes off this and to begin to look at the three big dots--in the beginning, in the meantime, in the end.
And look at this . . . this is great. Here’s what happens. "He sent the Spirit to help us in our weakness. We do not," [Now this should be our life verse. A life verse is a verse that you can say, "Boy, I’m just gonna build my life around this."] For some of us, this should be the central verse in our lives during certain seasons.
"We do not know," [he helps us in our weakness] "we do not know what we ought to pray for." Have you ever been in that situation? I have. Where things are so bad and so bleak, you get on your knees to pray and nothing comes out? You’re not even sure you believe anymore. You’re not even sure there’s any hope. You’ve already asked God 20 times, and if you’re like me you say, "Okay, why am I asking for him to be healed? Okay, why would I even ask you that? If you cared, you wouldn’t have let him get sick. Why do I have to come after the fact to ask you? I mean, why would, why do I think you’re gonna heal this person when you didn’t keep him well to begin with? I don’t know how to pray for this. I don’t even know how to think about this."
God goes, "I’m with you. I’m totally with you. You’re weak. You’re caught in the ’right now.’ You’re trying to connect little itty-bitty dots in your little itty-bitty life." I understand that.
Now, listen to this next promise. "But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." I’m telling you, this should be, for some of us, so comforting in our time of need. God recognizes that sometimes life is so low that you can’t even utter a word. That sometimes the pain is so great all you can do is moan and groan and cry, and God says, "That’s not bad. I understand, because I see this big, dark, decaying world and every once in a while, it reaches up and grabs you. And what it does . . . I want you to know this . . . you may not believe in me but I’m praying for you. You may have no faith in me. I’m interceding for you. I may seem a thousand miles away, but I’m living in you and I understand your weakness and I understand why. And, ultimately, it’s not even your fault. You’re just sort of a victim of a world, a person. You were born into this world and you’re facing the consequences of decisions, some of which you made, some of which you didn’t make. But, big picture, in the beginning sin entered. In the meantime, I’m praying for you."
Verse 27, "And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints and according with God’s will." And then he quotes this verse and now he begins moving us from the ’in the meantime’ to ’in the end.’ "And we know that in all things God works" Pause for just a minute. "And we know," Paul’s going, "I’m telling you, I’ve seen enough to know. I’ve read the Old Testament. I’ve seen what’s happened. I’ve talked to the men and women who were with Jesus. Here’s what I know: ’that in all things, God works.’ In death he works. In suffering he works. In joy he works. In pain he works. When things work out, he works. When things don’t work out, he works. When things work out like you planned for them, God works. When things don’t work out like you planned for them, God works . . . "for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait, you mean I could be somebody you love? I could be somebody that’s been called according to a specific purpose? And my life can be hell sideways? Those two things can go together?"
God says, "Oh, yeah. Because you, whom I love and I’ve called my child, you were born into a world that in the beginning was cursed. And ’in the meantime,’ you’ve just gotta lean forward and wait patiently. And ’in the meantime,’ I’m gonna intercede for you. Because ’in the meantime,’ you’re gonna be weak. And my seeming lack of activity is not evidence of the fact that I’m not active. It’s just evidence of the fact that you’re weak, and that’s okay ’cause I’m praying for you. And there’s no answer that will make the pain go away, but there is a context that will allow you to endure it. And it’s when you quit trying to connect the little dots and you begin to connect the big dots--in the beginning, in the meantime, in the end. In the beginning, in the meantime, in the end."
Verse 29, "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son." That means God has something for you. "That he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called, and those he called he also justified," [which means gave a right standing with God].
"Wait, wait, wait. You’re saying this is all true of people who are weak and are suffering and are facing all this junk?"
"Yeah."
"You mean there’s nothing wrong with me?"
"Well, nothing other than the fact that your body’s decaying and you were born into sin, but I can handle all that."
"You mean the fact that life isn’t good for me doesn’t mean I’ve done something wrong?
"No. The fact that life isn’t good for you means you live in a world that’s wrong. It’s bigger than that. But in spite of that, I love you. And in spite of that, I’m working. In spite of that, you have a future. And in spite of that, I’m gonna finish what I’ve begun in you. That’s all the explanation you need."
"What shall we say, then . . ." [jump down to 31] "what shall we say then in response to all 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?" And all of a sudden, Paul says, "It’s the past, it’s the present, it’s the future, it’s in the beginning, it’s in the meantime, it’s in the end. And, oh yeah, by the way, there was another significant event between ’in the beginning’ and ’in the meantime.’ It’s the stake I put in the ground when I sent my son into this world to die for your sin, to answer the question once and for all, ’Do I care about you?’ To answer the question once and for all, ’Do I love you?’ To answer the question once and for all, ’Can I identify with your pain and your suffering?’ To answer once and for all, "Do I care?" Oh yeah, I care, and the only way for you to get the answers to the questions that you need, to answer the questions we all ask, is to pull out of this and to look at that. The problem is we live in the meantime, don’t we? And in the meantime, it’s like Jesus on the cross who just predicted it, going, "Okay, but now I’ve, it seems like I’ve lost perspective here for a moment." It’s ’in the meantime’ that I just want to get all caught up in the little dots, but for the man or the woman, and I’ve seen them and I’ve met them, and for the child who can allow his pain to move his eyes to God, and instead of looking down to look out . . . it’s amazing what can happen in a heart and a life.
I was reminded of this in a very small way. And some of you can relate to this, some of you maybe not. But, about three years ago, I took my son, Andrew, on a father-son little deal up in the mountains and he wanted me to buy him a knife. So, I bought him this knife. And he was probably too young for the knife, and the knife looked a lot bigger back then when he was so small. If some of you know what this little part right there is, you know what that’s for, and if you do, I don’t need to explain it. If you don’t know what that’s for, you don’t want me to explain it in church. But, anyway, so I bought him this knife and, and I did sort of like a God thing.
I gave him a very dangerous thing. I gave him total autonomy to do whatever he wanted to with it, and I asked him to be responsible. But, once I gave it to him, it was really his and he could do with it what he chose. Scary thing. Two years later, which was earlier this year, we all went camping. I say we all . . . it was a bunch of fathers and sons and daughters. And it was the typical camping trip for us. We got there and set up our tents in the rain. It rained all night. It rained all the next day until about 5:00 p.m., when it started sleeting. It sleeted until midnight, when it started snowing. The whole trip was a total disaster, which meant we were bored stiff. And about halfway through that day, when it rained all day and was so cold, we couldn’t even go out. It began to sleet. The kids were kind of running around and playing, and I was talking to some of the dads, and Andrew walked up to me with a very serious look on his face. He said, "Dad, I cut my hand."
I said, "Let me see."
And he opens up his hand and the knife had fallen right there and had sliced . . . and as soon as he opened it up, he immediately grabbed it and I almost passed out and I think he was getting kind of woozy. So, we packed up the car and the two of us and one other guy drove down to Clayton, Georgia--we were up in the mountains--came down to Clayton to this emergency medical center, and the doctor on call was named Dr. Hann. No lie, H a n n. I said, "Dr. Hann, this is my son’s hand."
Now, and again, many of you’ve been there. Here’s the situation. On the way down, I knew it was about to happen. He’d never had stitches before, and I knew that a doctor I was yet to meet was gonna take a needle and stick the needle right in that wound to numb that hand before he could sew it up. And I don’t dare tell Andrew that. And I’m sitting there thinking, "I don’t know how I’m gonna handle this, okay?"
So, they laid him on the table, and they’ve got all this sterilized stuff, and his wounded hand is over here. I’m on this side of the bed and I’m holding his other hand. And he lays that hand out and the doctor says, "Andrew, here’s what I’m about to do." Now, what am I doing? Do you think it occurred, do you think for one second it even occurred to me, "Andrew, I hope that works out. I’m gonna be in the waiting room reading a magazine, okay? And, you know, besides, you shouldn’t have been playing with the knife, okay?"
And if Andrew had said, "Dad," [of course he didn’t] "why did this happen?" there are two answers. One is "You were irresponsible." That’s one answer. The bigger answer is "because I gave you the knife." But you know what? It didn’t matter why. What mattered was ’in the meantime,’ right now, what’s gonna happen right now? I mean, the explanation to that is interesting, but in the meantime . . . and you know what I did ’in the meantime’? I did ’in the meantime’ what your heavenly Father does for you. I did what any father would do. And why as a father did I know instinctively that the best thing for me to do was to be as close to my son in his time of pain as I possibly could? Where did I learn that? Because the image of my heavenly Father is in my heart, like it’s in yours. I just knew. You don’t sit in the other room and read a magazine because, by the way, it was his fault. You get close to him. I would’ve taken his place if I could.
I held his hand, I watched his lip quiver, and he stared me in the eye as that guy took that needle and stuck it right between those fingers. Ouch . . . and I could see him trying to be brave and he did not want to cry. And I was holding him. I kept saying, "It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to cry ’cause I’m gonna cry. So, it’s okay to cry. Let’s both cry!" Do you know what I was doing in my own silly, you know, human way? I was interceding. I just want to be as close to--I can’t make the pain go away. I can’t take your place in this moment--but I want to be as physically and emotionally close to you as I possibly can while you go through this, because this is pain that I shouldn’t take away. This is pain that’s better in the future. But the future doesn’t matter, and why it happened doesn’t matter. What happens is right now in the meantime.
And you know what? It’s not an emotionally satisfying answer, necessarily. It’s not like, gosh, I feel better about my life and my pain and my loss and my tragedy and my job. No, it’s not that kind of answer. There’s no answer like that. But it’s the context and it’s the perspective, and it’s God’s way of saying there’s a purpose and there is a reason and I am still in control. And in the meantime, I am with you.
Could God end all pain and suffering? Absolutely, he could. Jesus proved that, cause Jesus took a little aerosol can of anti-pain and suffering and he sprayed it on a lame man and he got up and walked. Then he sprayed some on a blind guy and he could see. Then he sprayed some on Lazarus and he came out of the grave. Then Jesus put the can down and said, "Now that you know I can do it, that’s the future. But it’s not for now. And in the meantime, I’m with you."
Will God end pain and suffering? Absolutely. The whole Scripture points us, that’s ’wait for,’ that’s ’in the meantime.’ That’s ’lean forward.’ That’s that adoption that’s going to be completed. That’s when sin, sorrow, and death are all taken away. That’s what we look to. That’s why people who say, "You know, I’ve lost my son or my daughter or my father or my mother, but I’m absolutely confident I’m gonna see them again."
And you listen to them and you go, "You know what? They are confident. Where did they get that confidence?" It wasn’t by piecing the dots together in their little itty-bitty life and their little itty-bitty circumstances. It’s because they understood that in the beginning, sin reigned. In the meantime, God is with us. And in the future, in the end, all things will be made new and all things will be made right. And that’s answer enough. And that’s the answer to get us through ’in the beginning, in the meantime, in the end.’ In the beginning, in the meantime, in the end.
And the reason I say this with such confidence, honestly, it’s not because of my experience. It’s as I said. I’ve stood beside heroes. I’ve stood beside children, I’ve stood beside husbands and wives and mothers and fathers. I’ve stood beside people who have walked through the valley, the triple-dose valley of the shadow of death, and have come out on the other side and said, "I believe. I trust. I have confidence in God. And it hurts and it’s painful, and the answer doesn’t take away the pain, but I can endure because I understand it’s not about my little dots. It’s about God’s sovereignty. He has given us an answer and I will rest in that, from ’the beginning to the meantime to the very end.’"
God really does have your life in his hands. And he will not pull any punches when it comes to sin, because he will allow the consequences of sin to reign. But as the consequences, both physically and every other way, touch down in our lives, it is, as I said, it is the shortest route to God. And in that moment of clarity, where it’s "Oh, my God," if we can maintain our gazes on him, and if we can allow him to create for us the context of our suffering, there is, as Paul said, there is hope for the future and you will find the strength to endure. But as long as you look here, there are no answers. There is no satisfactory explanation. Because the context for your pain and your suffering is as big as the beginning and the end. But in the meantime, God is with you.
Let’s pray together.
Heavenly Father, I know the day will come when I’ll be scrambling around in my own life or with my own family to remember this, ’cause it slips away from us, God. You know it slips away. That’s why you said we’re weak. That’s why you have to intercede for us in our weakness. It just slips away. Father, for the man or woman who’s sitting here today going, "I’m in it. This isn’t a theory. This isn’t one day, some day. This is today. This is my life. This is my health, my family, my career." Whatever it is, would you please, in their pain, would you please, please, please, just through your Spirit that lives in them, assure them of your presence, of your care, of your concern . . . that you’re not in the waiting room, that you’re beside them. Father, help us to see it within the context in which it really is. Thank you for your Word. Thank you for this promise. Thank you for this reminder. Thank you that we can live every day knowing that you really do have the whole world in your hands. And even though sin reigns supreme now, that’s even within the context of your sovereignty, and that one day when you chose, you will bring all of that to an end. So, to the best of our ability, we’re leaning hard in that direction in the meantime. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
