Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
Romans 8:18-30 NLT
Following Jesus includes suffering. We will share in His glory, and we share in His suffering (v.17); this is part of becoming like Him (v.29). Yet we do not suffer alone because the Holy Spirit is with us—helping us in our weakness and praying for us in our need (vv.26-27). Christians have a foretaste of the new creation because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. New creation is beginning inside of us, even now. Even suffering and hard times are transformed by God to make us stronger.
Verse 28 does not mean God causes bad things to happen or that even evil things should be called “good.” It means that even in the evil, suffering, and brokenness of the world, God is still working—and even causes the evil things to work in our favor as we trust in Him. They “work together” not like a puzzle but like workers side by side; even bad things that people intend are used by God to grow us more like Christ (v.29). The sufferings we endure are nothing compared to the glory we will experience (vv.18, 30). We are longing for new creation even as we are being re-created now.
We are all longing for new creation. The world, our relationships, and even our own thoughts are broken, and we long for them to be put back together, re-created. Paul wrote that all of creation is longing for the day when all things are made new (v.22)—when there is no death or decay, when people are given new bodies, live without sin, and experience the fullness of being God’s adopted children (v.23).
How can the Holy Spirit help you when you are suffering or struggling? How have you experienced God re-creating you? How do you long for the new creation?
