Hope Despite our Circumstances
July 17, 2022 • Nathan Young • Romans 8:18–25
Audio Transcript:
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Father, we just rejoice in the fact that you loved us, not because we were lovely, not because we deserved your affection, but because of your character, because you were rich in mercy, and you had great love for us, and so you chose to come and rescue us in our lowly position. Even though we were dead in our trespasses and our sins, you made us alive again in Christ. You poured out immeasurable riches upon us, and I just pray this morning as we come before you, that, Lord, you would humble our hearts, you would clear our minds, you would give us eyes to see. I pray that your spirit would be with us, that it would lead and guide us, that it would continue to equip us for all the good work that you have called us to, and so, Lord, just pray that we continue to walk in the newness of life, and that we worship and glorify you in all that we do, and it's in the name of Jesus that we pray this morning. Amen.
So this morning, my assignment is Romans 8, and we're going to be looking at verses 18-25. You might have heard the last couple of weeks that this chapter that we're in, it might be one of the most encouraging single passages of all of scripture. It is a chapter of rejoicing built upon a theological foundation that Paul has been laying for a while. We've been sitting in the book of Romans for a few months now, and I almost feel like every sermon needs to start with some sort of recap, like a previously on section from a TV show, because as we've been going through so many different things, it's hard to keep all of it in focus, to keep it all visible in our minds. So what have we covered over the last five months?
Well, Paul starts us off in the very beginning in chapter one. He shows us the condition of humanity, that those who pursue the flesh, who actively suppress the truth of God, they are rebels. They are destructive to themselves. God's wrath falls upon them, because they are unrighteous, but likewise, in chapter two, Paul then proceeds to explain how everyone who tries to pursue the law, everyone who tries to do what's right is also unrighteous. Those who preach do not steal. Well, they stole. Those who preach do not commit adultery. They committed adultery. So even though in their minds they thought they were righteous, they weren't.
And this leads to one of the first big conclusions that we have from Paul, that it doesn't matter if you're a Jew, a Gentile, whether you live a lawful or licentious life, all of us are missing the mark. He gives us a harsh conclusion in the middle of chapter three, "None is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive." At this point, this is almost like a cliff hanger in our story. The chips are down. The threat has been realized. We're in a rough spot, but thankfully everything works according to the will of God. He does not get canceled, because if we keep reading in that same chapter, we go from lamenting at the beginning to rejoicing by the end.
Keep reading, "For all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift to the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith." This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Hallelujah, what a savior. We who were short of the glory of God have been redeemed by the work of Jesus. The wrath of God has passed over us because of the blood of the lamb. Amen.
This is good news, and if you're here today, and this is new news to you, if this is the first time you have heard this, then there is nothing more important for you to pay attention to, that all of us, all of humanity, we are sinners. We are against God, and yet God still loved us. He loved us so much that he sent his son Jesus to intervene on our behalf. Because of our sin, because of our rebellion, our right reward was death. It was removal and separation from God, but by the blood of Jesus, he has come, and he has purchased our salvation, and this salvation is available to those who would repent and believe, and this salvation changes everything. This salvation is the most important thing that can happen to you.
So if you are not redeemed by the blood of the lamb, then I implore you repent and believe, because going forward, Paul is going to continue to expand on this salvation. Chapter four and five he starts giving us greater detail, that we now have a new life that we live in. Like Abraham, we were saved not by our works, but by faith in God. Furthermore, we don't live in the sinful inheritance of Adam any longer. We now live in the righteous inheritance of Christ, and because of all of this, because of the accomplishment of God that he has given to us as a gift, we now rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Chapter six is almost a pivot point. From there, Paul starts addressing consequences and questions of our salvation. You could say chapter six and seven is almost like dealing with the negative consequences. Can we keep sinning so that grace can abound? No. Can we keep sinning because we're not under the law? No. Because the law aroused sin in us, does that mean that the law is sin? No. And Paul is just batting these away one after the other, and finally we move into chapter eight where Paul starts discussing the positive consequences for our salvation. These are wonderful things that are now true, because what Christ has done. This is the reason we say this is one of the most encouraging chapter of all of scripture, and he starts off with a blockbuster. We are now not under condemnation because we are in Christ. Praise God.
The law of the spirit has set us free from the law of sin and death. This is amazing, because we have lived our entire lives under the weight of condemnation, under the slavery of sin, and we are now no longer bound to that, but we can now walk in the spirit. This keeps getting better, because we are also children of God. God has always been a righteous king over us, but now he is our Abba, Father. We have this relationship of affection with him, and because we are his children, guess what? We are co-heirs with Christ, and if you're like me, as you're reading through Romans 8, this is the part where you're getting really pumped. I'm getting super excited, because this is so encouraging.
Then you might, if you're not being careful, miss out on a very important qualifier that Paul adds. In verse 17, Paul tells us that if we are fellow heirs with Christ, we are that way, "Provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." Wait a second, Paul, you were just laying out the perks. We're not under sin. We're free from the law. No condemnation, live in the spirit, co-heirs of Christ. What is with this suffering thing? Can we get back to the perks of our salvation? I want to hear more about that, and Paul being inspired by the Holy Spirit seems to anticipate that we reading these words might be a little jarred, might be a little jarred by this requirement that the glory of Christ goes hand in hand with the suffering of Christ, that they're tied to each other. And that's where we pick up our passage here, where Paul is responding to this revelation about suffering.
And so would you open up your Bibles, and we're going to be looking at Romans 8:18.25, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing what the glory that is to be revealed to us, but the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, but 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 to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we weigh eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."
This is the reading of God's Holy Word. Three points to help us frame our time today, point number one, the bad news, point number two, more bad news, and point number three more good news. So point number one, right off the bat, what is the bad news? Well, the bad news is Paul is making an assumption. He is presupposing that in our present time, there will be suffering. Even though we are not under condemnation, we live in the spirit, we're co-heirs of the Christ, we are going to suffer. One of these things is not like the other. Here, in this chapter of all the encouragements of our benefits that we have because of our salvation, Paul is drawing a foregone conclusion. He acknowledges that suffering is included in the purchase price.
So the first question we might ask ourselves is, "What kind of suffering is Paul talking about? Is Paul talking about physical suffering?" I mean, Paul himself did share in physical suffering for the sake of Christ. He reminds us in chapter 11 of II Corinthians how he was whipped, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked. His body most definitely bore the marks of his physical suffering for Christ. Is that what he's getting at? I would submit to you the answer is, "No." Not that physical suffering is excluded from following Christ, just simply that is not specifically what he is referring to in this passage. So what is it?
And we have a big clue in verse 18 for the word of suffering. The word means to feel deeply, to feel with passion, to have a capacity for strong emotion, and so this suffering that Paul is referring to I would submit to you is very similar to what the prophet, Isaiah, said in chapter 53. When speaking of Christ, he said that, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief." The suffering that Paul is addressing, the suffering that we are going to share with Christ is sorrow, is an acquaintance with grief. And this brings us to one of our first big principles for today. We have to understand that as Christians living in a sinful world, we cannot escape internal, emotional sorrow and suffering.
Paul just got done telling us that this suffering goes hand in hand with the glory of Christ. Let's pause there for a moment, because this might be something we need to digest, something we need to recalibrate our thinking regarding, that even though we're free from sin, we're free from the law, we're co-heirs with Christ, suffering is going to mark our lives as Christians. And on face value, that seems like bad news. I was meditating the last couple weeks on suffering, which is a super pleasant activity to do. I would not recommend it, and I kept coming back to three different ways that we as Christians suffer, three ways, three types.
The first type is kind of a base level suffering, best case scenario. It is spiritual suffering. As Christians, we live with open warfare within us. Paul just got done talking about this earlier in the chapter in verse 13, "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Paul is letting us know that if we're going to live as the new creations that we are called to, then we have to put the flesh to death, and if you've ever tried to put the flesh to death, you can testify it doesn't go quietly, right? You have to fight it. You have to endure it. You have to flee from it. It is not a pleasant activity.
Peter takes the other side of this. I Peter 2 he puts it this way, "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul." So here's the deal. Best case scenario, you are called to go and make war against your flesh, likewise, that flesh is making war against you. There is no demilitarized zone. There is no conflict region here. It is one side or the other. Kill or be killed. I don't want to speak for all of you, but that's not very comfy. It's not very cozy.
Furthermore, we're children of God, right? Well, as children of God, then we share in the discipline of our Father. God uses discipline to grow us, to forge our sanctification. Look at Hebrews 12, starting in verse 7, "For it is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons." So for all of us who are in Christ, we will properly receive the discipline of our father. How does that feel? Keep reading. Verse 11, "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruits of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
This is our best case scenario, bear minimum for us as Christians, that we pick up our cross, deny ourselves, participate daily in the war that is going on inside of us, while simultaneously our Father is rightfully and lovingly disciplining us. All of this causes discomfort, causes pain, suffering, and this is the first type of suffering that we experience. The second type of suffering is sacrificial suffering. This is a type of suffering in which we sacrifice one thing that we value in order to achieve something of greater value. It's an investment.
Okay, first thing we might ask ourselves, "Well, what's on the table? What am I called to invest?" Well, we are now slaves to righteousness. We are not our own. We have been bought with a price, and so the correct answer in short is that everything is available, everything. This is why we are called to love the Lord with heart, soul, mind, and strength. Our entire internal capacity belongs to God, but furthermore, Paul later in this same book of Romans is going to go on and say, "Present your bodies," physical, "as living sacrifices unto the Lord," to use however God is going to see fit."
So when it comes to sacrificial suffering, when we trade one thing that we value for something of greater value, everything that we have is available for God to use as he would choose. This might be another place for us to pause and ponder. How does the calling to sacrificial suffering change our lives? How has it changed the way that we view our families, or our jobs, or our assets, or our talents, everything? Because the cost can be steep. Let's consider two categories, two areas. In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus is sending out the disciples for the first time. He's giving them a pep talk. He's sending them out with power and authority to do miracles, but he warns them they will be persecuted. In order for them to go out and achieve this good work that the father has called them to, there's going to be a cost.
What type of cost? They're going to be hated. Hated by who? Their families. Read in verse 35, "For I've come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A person's enemies will be those of his own household." So when it comes to relational cost for following Christ, what Jesus is letting us know is that there is the potential that our closest relationships may be sacrificed, that this may create enmity between our own families for the sake of following him. Furthermore, sacrificial suffering is not just relational. It's not just about giving up brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and fathers. It's about giving up houses and lands.
Let's think about the parable in Matthew 13, where a man finds a treasure in a field. We all know this one. What does he do? He covers up the treasure. He goes, and he sells everything that he has, and goes back, and buys the field. This is an analogy for our lives as Christians. We have found the treasure in Christ, in this salvation. Now we go, we sell everything that we have, and we invest it in the kingdom of heaven. Allow me to pause for just a second. I'm not saying that every single one of you needs to go out and liquefy all your earthly assets, and I don't know, donate it to the Mosaic Build Fund. I'm not going there, but what I'm trying to drive at, what I'm trying to bring in focus is that Paul assumes that there is going to be suffering for those of us who are in Christ, and I'm trying to clarify that this suffering is going to include sacrificing things we hold dear, material, relational, you name it.
As Christians, our investments are no longer primarily in this world, but the next. They're no longer primarily in our kingdoms, but in God's, and this process of investing in the kingdom of heaven has a cost. This is another point for us to meditate on. Are we sacrificially suffering? How are we bearing this burden? Do we live lives that desire to continue increasing our sacrifice of this world for the next, or are we still trying to build up treasures here on earth? If you can soberly review your own life, and you have a hard time pointing to the areas in which you are sacrificially suffering for the kingdom of heaven, then my question for you is, for what purpose are you using the things that the Lord has given you? Where are you investing? What treasure are you trying to obtain?
So as Christians, we fight the good fight of faith within ourselves. We also pick up our cross, and we follow Jesus. We sacrificially suffer this world for the next. And the third type of suffering that I believe we experience is just the suffering of loss, of loss. When it comes to those first two types of suffering, we're a little less serious. When we're waging war against the flesh, we all kind of encourage one another. There's backslapping, and fist bumping, and, "I'll pray for you. You go get them." When it comes to sacrificial suffering, we all kind of get it. We make snide remarks about the cost of real estate in Boston, or how somebody gave me a lecture at the supermarket, or about how I had to have a meeting with my boss, because I didn't put my pronouns in my bio. Right?
We make jokes about it, but when it comes to the third type of suffering, the suffering of loss, these are the type of sufferings where we just turn to the Lord, and we ask, "Why? Why, God?" Sometimes they're a little smaller. "God, I worked really hard. Why didn't I get into the program?" "God, I've been praying for a long time. I really want to be married. Why her and not me?" Sometimes the suffering is heartbreaking. "Lord, I loved him like a brother. I poured myself into the relationship. Why did it end in betrayal?" "God, why did it have to be cancer?" "Lord, why the bloodshed?" "Why does it have to be the children, God?" It's in these moments that our hearts just ache, and they groan, and we feel the suffering, and this is the harsh reality of living in our sinful flesh and living in a sinful fallen world, and part of what Paul is letting us know in this passage is it's baked into the cake.
It's part of our experience, not just us, but the entire world. All of creation is experiencing the weight of sin, and there's nothing we can do, but be patient, and in the interim, there will be tears and mourning. And if that wasn't bad enough, well, guess what? I have more bad news for you. I know that's what you wanted. You signed up for it, more bad news. Look at verse 20 with me, "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself would be set free from its to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." So at the very beginning, Paul assumes that we who are in Christ, we are still going to suffer internal, emotional pain, even though we are heirs with Christ, but what starts to make this worse is there's really nothing we can do about it.
The environment that we are living in, creation itself, has been set on a course. It wasn't what creation willed. It wasn't what creation took a vote and decided to do. It has come to pass by the ordained will of God, and any attempts to try and stop it are ultimately futile. The Greek word for futile here means vanity, emptiness, ineffective. What Paul is getting at is that in this state of suffering where we are groaning, any change to really try and modify that condition is going to end up being ineffective. It can't be done. Creation cannot remove itself from the weight of sin, and neither can we. Look in verse 23, "And not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." And so just like creation, we, who are children of God, we have to wait patiently. We have to wait and groan for God to come and redeem our bodies. Efforts to remove the suffering will ultimately be futile.
In this passage, we've concluded two things, that suffering is a normal and expected part of our faith, and that we don't have the capacity to remove ourself from the suffering. There's no way to completely opt out. The only thing we can do is wait for the Lord to faithfully fulfill his promise. As we stop and consider the consequence of these two ideas, it really makes at least me reconsider some things. Some of the things that makes me reconsider is all the if only statements that I make in my mind, right? "If only I had this, well, then I wouldn't have to deal with this thing over here that causes me suffering." "If only I had enough money, and then I wouldn't have to deal with all the frustration of living in Boston." "If only we had the right program, then people would no longer be in conflict, and we could fix all the problems." "If only we educated, then we wouldn't have..." "If only we had the right person..." If only, if only, and ultimately it's all futile.
The only person who can remove us from this position is God. He is the only if only. To be clear, I am not saying that we cannot pursue change in our lives. I'm not saying that there isn't wisdom in taking this course of action or the other. We are called to strive and improve things, but what I'm saying is that we have to remember that we don't have the capacity to take this sinful world and make it perfect. We cannot remove the suffering of our present time. It's something that only God can do, and everybody else who tries to do it is going to ultimately be futile. So you might be saying to yourself at this point, "Well, thank you very much for the pep talk, Nate." You have told us this was the most encouraging chapter of scripture, and you have spent nearly 28 minutes talking about suffering and futility. I appreciate it."
Well, praise be to God, the suffering and futility is not the whole story, because now we get to talk about more good news, and if you've been paying attention, you might have noticed that I've tiptoed around the passage a little bit, because running through the entire passage intermingled with all this talk of suffering and futility is a discussion of hope, that paired with suffering and futility is hope. These two things are bonded together. This is not a new thing. This is why we talked so much earlier about what we've covered in the book of Romans, because in chapter five, Paul started this pairing.
Chapter 5:2, "Through him," the him being Christ, "Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." So we are standing in a new position because of Christ, and in Christ, "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given." Okay, Paul, so you started talking about that a couple chapters ago. I still don't get it. I'm still a little confused about the organization. Why is suffering right here in the list of the benefits of being in Christ?
We're not under condemnation. We live in the spirit. We're co-heirs with Christ. How does the suffering and hope in Christ, how is it all related? The reason that Paul has linked suffering, hope, and being in Christ altogether here in this passage that's describing the benefits that we have in our salvation, is that for those of us who are in Christ, we no longer suffer in vain. Paul's letting us know everyone, everywhere is suffering. Even creation is suffering, but for those of us who are in Christ, we don't suffer in vain. We suffer in hope. We don't suffer like those who are no longer in Christ, whose pain, and sacrifice, and groaning, it never gets better. It never resolves into anything more meaningful, but for those of us who are in Christ, we rejoice in our suffering. Why? Because we have hope.
We have hope that all of this resolves into something more meaningful. That's why Paul is talking about it right smack dab here in the middle of the benefits of being in Christ, because even though suffering has not been removed, in Christ, hope has come. Hope has been delivered, and we now rejoice in our suffering, because we know one day that there will be a redemption of the suffering state that we are in. And this is more good news. The good news is that Christ has saved us, that he has provided for our salvation. We have been adopted by God, but now we have more good news, because we who are in Christ, we now have hope, even though there is still suffering here today, there is hope for tomorrow, and this is a tremendous benefit that we have in Christ, and it's so encouraging to me, because without Christ, suffering is the whole story. There is no happy ending. There is no satisfying resolution. It just goes from bad to worse. Suffering is all consuming.
But for those of us who are in Christ, because we have been justified by his blood, we are not under condemnation, we are co-heirs with Christ, even the suffering in this present time has meaning, because at the end of this story is the glory of God, and it is in the glory of God that we put our hope, and we rejoice, and that's not even enough for Paul. Paul needs to make it just explicitly clear how great the hope that we have is, which is why he starts off with verse 18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us." What Paul is saying is like, "Listen, I get it. There's suffering. We're going to have to endure the suffering, but these two things are so far apart. The glory of God and the suffering of today, that the gap between them is so great, that we can't even compare the two, that the magnitude of where we are today versus where we will be with God is so tremendous that it doesn't even fit onto the same scale.
And the example he gives us is childbirth. Childbirth. Here we are today, right now, we are in the pains of childbirth. We are dealing with suffering. We are waiting patiently. We are pouring ourselves out sacrificially trying to accomplish all that God has called us to, and we have a hope that one day this child will be delivered, and the suffering will cease, and in that moment, the joy that will fill our souls, the satisfaction that will overwhelm us will be so great that we can't even compare it to the suffering of this age. They're so far apart from one another, and this is how we endure suffering. We look forward to the hope of the glory of God that is so much greater than the suffering today. Practical example of this for us is Jesus. Big shock, I know nobody saw that coming. Hebrews 12 tells us that, "We are to look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross."
So Jesus seeing the joy and satisfaction that was ahead through his willful obedience to the father, decided to sacrifice himself. He willingly endured the suffering of the cross, and this is the application for us today, that we acknowledge where we are. We are in this present condition with suffering, with futility, that we patiently wait on the Lord, but before us is incredible joy and incredible satisfaction that we can't even fully comprehend when we are finally adopted as sons and our bodies are redeemed. This is a glorious hope that should stir up joy in each one of us, as we put our hope in what our faithful God will do. And with this view of joy ahead of us, let us lay aside every weight and sin, which clings so closely. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Let us forget what lies behind and spring forward to what lies ahead, press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
So, Christians, let us not become discouraged. Do not let us wallow in the suffering. Don't let our eyes become fixed on the waves, because the cost of this life cannot compare to the reward we will have in Christ. I will say that again. The cost of this life, even with its pain, even with its suffering, cannot compare to the reward we will have in Christ when we are in the glory of God. Amen.
Amen.
Thank you. So let me conclude with this, two things. First, an assignment, read this week Revelation 19-22. Why? Well, let me give you an exhortation about it and give you the short version, because in that part of scripture, at this point, the marriage of the lamb has come. The bride, those of us who are in Christ, we are ready, and our husband, he comes for us. The one who is faithful and true, the Word of God comes riding on a white horse. His eyes are like flames and out of his mouth comes a sword. He has come to strike down the nations and to rule them with an iron rod. He comes with a tattoo on his thigh, which has his name, and is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His enemies, they'll fight against him, but they will be defeated. They will be captured and thrown into the lake of fire.
Those of us who are in Christ, we will be resurrected from the dead, and the second death will have no power over us. Satan himself will be defeated. His campaign against the almighty will finally come to an end, and every single person will be judged. And for those of us whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, for those of us who have been washed in the blood of a Lamb, we finally get to go home. And the best part is we finally get to be with God, and in this new home with God, there will be a new heaven, and a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. There will be no more sin. God will be our God. We will be his people, and the part that I look forward to I think the most is that our God will wipe away every tear. Death will be no more. There will be no more crying, nor pain. All these things will pass away.
And so when Paul tells us he doesn't consider comparing the suffering of today to the glory that is to come, this is what he's pointing to. This is why our suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, because we have our hope in the fact that Jesus has saved us, and that Jesus is coming again to bring us to himself, and that when we are with him, our loving father will wipe away all the suffering of this world, and the only thing that remains will be the worship of God, the love of God, and the glory of God forever and ever, so take heart. There will be suffering, but we rejoice in our suffering, because we have our hope and a faithful and glorious God. Let's pray.
Father, we just rejoice, and we praise your name. We look upon all that you have done for us, and we are overwhelmed. Lord, I'm comforted by the fact that you specialized in bringing good from bad, bringing beauty from ashes, strength from fear, gladness from mourning, and that, Lord, even death itself is unable to stop you from accomplishing all that you promised to do. And so, Father, it is in you, it is in your character, in your faithfulness that we place our hope.
Lord, I pray that we do not get bogged down in the mere of this life, that, Lord, even though there is pain and suffering, I just pray that you would send your Holy Spirit to encourage our souls, strengthen our wills, motivate our hands, Lord, fix our eyes upon the glory that we have and use, that we would run this race to win the prize. And so, God, I just pray that you would remind us that because of our hope in you, we can be assured that all of this journey is worth it, that all of it will end in good. Let us rest in that security, and it's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.