Romans 8:26-39

If God is loving, why does He let bad things happen to His people? Where are you, God, as I face my difficulties?

Have you ever asked these questions? We all face difficulties: sickness, sorrow, broken relationships, disappointments, misunderstandings, financial hardship, and more. God never promised otherwise.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

What is God doing in the midst of our difficulties?

• The inward work of God (Romans 8:26-27)
  • The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses
    • We have two intercessors
      • Christ at the right hand of the Father
      • Holy Spirit at the right hand of the believer
    • The intercession compensates for our lack
      • We do not know what to pray for
    • The intercession is for the accomplishment of God’s will
      • Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
• The outward working of God (Romans 8:28)
  • In all things God works for the good of those who love Him
    • The prerequisite
      • To those who love Him
    • The promise
      • God takes every experience, bad and good, and produces something good

A man took home a cocoon in order to watch the emperor moth emerge. As the moth struggled to get through the tiny opening, the man enlarged it with a snip of his scissors. The moth emerged easily, but its wings were shriveled. The struggle through the narrow opening forces fluid from its body into its wings. The “merciful” snip was, in reality, cruel.

When the God of all grace controls our lives, He can transform interruptions into opportunities, mistakes into successes, pride into humility, and suffering into strength. That’s God’s amazing power!

• The upward work of God (Romans 8:35-39)
  • No circumstances can deny us God’s love
    • Neither tribulation, distress, famine, nakedness, peril, nor sword
    • Our temptation when problems arise is to believe God doesn’t love us anymore
    • The Bible states He still loves us
    • In the face of all negatives, God lifts us up and makes us victorious
  • No power can change God’s love for us (Romans 8:38-39)
    • Neither life, death, angels, principalities, the present, nor the future

The answer to the question: Where is God in the midst of my difficulty?

• If you love Him, He is doing a marvelous thing in you
• If you love Him, you are keeping His commandments
• He is working in you through the Holy Spirit
• He is working out to produce good
• He is working up for you so that you do not face condemnation, but experience victory as He lifts us up
• I have always loved you, and will always love you
• If you want to experience the fullness of the things I provide, you will follow Me

Where is God when you are in the midst of difficulties? He is right there with you, working in you, working up for you, and working through you.