A tragic accident on the freeway claims the life of a teenage girl just months before graduation. On Monday a father of four is the picture of health, but by Wednesday he is admitted to the hospital with a life-threatening infection. Without warning, termination notices go out to employees who expected to have their jobs for years to come. Chilling reports like that take your breath away. They turn lives upside down. We try to find comfort in telling ourselves that it couldn’t happen to us.
But believers are not immune from the effects of sin. We are no different than anyone else. We are sinners by nature living in a sinful world, and so we are subject to sin’s consequences. Tomorrow’s sermon text is from the book of Job (7:1-7), who suffered catastrophic, heart-wrenching losses. Suffering and grief are a part of every life in varying degrees. No matter how careful we are, we can’t avoid it. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
Yet that doesn’t mean that we are destined to live in constant dread of what tomorrow might bring. In spite of all that we see in the world and the troubles we face, we have reason to be optimistic. We have a Savior who loves us. He knows how hard life is. He lived here and experienced all the things we do and more. “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). He bore for us all the devastating effects of sin, including the punishment of hell, and came through victorious as our Champion. That means, Paul says, that “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). Plug in whatever trouble you can think of. Jesus’ saving work is greater.
Could troubles come? Certainly. No doubt they have come already at some point in your life, and they will come again. But whatever the trial may be, it will never be a punishment for sin, for Jesus paid your debt once and for all. It will never be something beyond the loving Lord’s control, for He rules over all things in heaven and on earth for the good of His people.
Rather, you can be sure that whatever it is, it can never touch your salvation and your place in God’s kingdom. As difficult as it may be, you can be sure that it will lead to the greatest good by God’s direction. For whatever comes, the Lord’s promise stands: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). |
