Reflect on how three categories of life experiences have influenced your interpretation of the biblical passage: spiritual experiences, pain and suffering, and personal maturation. In 250-500 words explain how each of these three categories of life experiences has led you to various aspects of interpretation of the passage which you have chosen.
Romans 8:18-30 is a passage of hope, encouragement, and growth for those who believe in Christ, and those who believe that this life on Earth is temporary.
Reading this passage through the lens of spiritual experiences, the words that come to mind are “hope deferred.” In my life, I cry out to God often and wonder why he has not given me the desires of my heart. Things don’t always happen on the timeline I have in my mind. This passage brings comfort as I wait and learn what God has for me, and not to focus on what my heart wants now. I identify with this passage as it says in verse 26, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” What a beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit giving spiritual language to our innermost longings.
To explore this passage further, I can’t help but think of the pain and suffering I see in the world around me, and to be encouraged that life is temporary, and God is in control. Two weeks ago my close friend Samsen P of Des Plaines was in a terrible bike accident. He collided with a Honda Pilot turning left. The motorcycle continued for about 50 feet before striking a metal barrier. Samuel fell from the motorcycle and into a ditch. Five days later, he passed away. As the world views it, a bad thing happened, and that is that. However, as Christians, we can look at verse 18 and see “Present sufferings are not worth the glory that will be revealed to us.” Through this passage we can be assured God is working in our lives, and through pain God can be glorified. Everything does have a purpose, God is still on the throne and when our ministry on earth is completed God will take us home regardless of our age as we see in Luke 1:23 “When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home.”
As I mature in my faith, this passage speaks to understanding God is in control. It is a hard lesson to learn that while you see life one way, God has a better way. To realize this is to lay down what you want, and to sincerely want the things that God wants in your life. In verse 28 it says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Sometimes it is hard to have hope because we don’t see God at work. But as it says in verse 24 and 25, “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not have, we wait for it patiently.”
