Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture – “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory”- Romans 8:17
Insight: Do we recognize and thank God enough for all He has done for us in the past and for what the scriptures promise He will do for us in the future? Do we truly appreciate His sacrifice to redeem us and forever change our eternal destiny? Even in our current struggles, which for many people are immense because of the damage of the global pandemic and its catastrophic financial, emotional and social impacts, we can surely find much to praise Him for. If we are still alive on Earth, we still have breath to praise Him! Let’s be honest, no one likes to suffer. We all try to avoid suffering in our lives. But sometimes, like with Covid-19, suffering comes upon us out of nowhere. Things happen in life that shake us to our core. A sudden unexpected change can leave us reeling and feeling very unstable. A sudden change from a global pandemic, or the death of a loved one, or a loss of a job, or a betrayal can make us doubt ourselves and our faith.
When these things occur, the key question is how do we respond? Jesus himself suffered in this life, and He told us we will also suffer in this broken world.(John 16:33) But the good news is found in the scripture above from Romans 8:17 that as Christians our suffering is not wasted. In fact, because of it, we will also one day share in His glory. That alone is something to praise Him for continually as we look forward to the day when His glory will be fully revealed. (Romans 8:18) Sometimes we ask God to get us out of the storms of life, to change our painful circumstances. But many times He may be changing us as a result of those circumstances. We want to be transformed and kept free from the suffering. He may choose to transform us through our suffering. Surrendering our life to Him means we acknowledge how little we will understand His ways at times. ( Isaiah 55:8-9 ) That won’t necessarily ease the pain in our suffering, but it will give us hope that His glory will be waiting for us at the end of our journey.
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