Faith and Growth Amidst Life's Chaotic Waters

The main verse I'm going to focused on for today's message is Romans 8:28 which states and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose specifically the word for good here which in Greek is agathon refers to a moral or a virtuous good rather than like a pleasing good is I guess what you will call it. [00:21:49]

There appears to be this tension in the Bible where on one hand God promises to work out all things for the good of those who love him but on the other hand Believers are consistently facing tribulations and Chaos in fact chaos is such a prevalent theme in the Bible the Bible occasionally uses images to represent it. [00:23:59]

The chaotic waters are something where life itself cannot exist without God exhibiting order over creation not only are these Waters almost the opposite of God's intended order of creation it is also described as something that inflicts suffering this is an idea demonstrated in Psalm 69 a Psalm of David which talks about how David feels as if the waters have come up to his neck. [00:25:50]

Not experiencing any kind of suffering or chaos can lead to complacency or to a strain away from God Solomon comes to mind here Solomon was blessed with everything material someone could want he had a long life he had a position of authority and according to a lot of sources Solomon had around two trillion dollar in today's currency and that's like lowballing it. [00:27:35]

There are some points in our life where just like the disciples we feel we are threatened by the waters a pretty clear and frequent example of this could be when people are diagnosed with serious sickness or when something they're working hard on feels like it's about to fall apart there are also some examples in the Bible like when Shadrach meach and abedo were threatened with the fact they could be burned alive in the fiery furnace. [00:29:39]

Sometimes we are persecuted by our community because of our faith sometimes we go through times where we feel betrayed by a loved one and there are a lot of prominent biblical figures who have gone through similar periods of intense suffering I mentioned job earlier how he is one of the Bible's Prime examples of someone who suffers I mean job lost all of his kids he lost all of his possessions and he was left with the intense pain given to him from the boils on his back. [00:32:39]

In second Corinthians when Paul pleads to God to take his suffering away God says my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness and with Jesus it was because of his suffering and his humiliation not only in his crucifixion but because he also rejected Divine privilege and became a servant for us that ultimately God has exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. [00:34:00]

Instead of calming them he uses them as a platform to stand on for him and if only for a while he used it for Peter in the same way Jesus used them for him and Peter to walk on Jesus can ultimately use periods when we are broken hurting or confused used in order to guide us and I would say just like how I find Jesus walking on the waters to be just as impressive as him calming the waters. [00:35:00]

All suffering in the world can be traced back to sin as the root cause sometimes our sin leads to our own suffering sometimes our sin leads to another person's suffering but the fact that suffering or sin leads to suffering is key to the nature of sin and even some exception you might be thinking about like diseases or natural disasters these things came about due to the initial sin of Adam and Eve. [00:37:47]

Romans 5 talks about how we should take joy in our suffering as suffering produces endurance endurance produces character and character produces hope similarly James chapter 1 talks about how the testing of our faith produces steadfastness which ultimately results in our completion First Peter chapter 2 talks about how when we suffer unjustly God looks at us favorably because of it. [00:39:19]

I just want to conclude today's message with an encouragement to you all I don't know what kind of situation you're in I don't know all the struggles you are facing what I do know is that God is in total control of all of it it can be hard to understand why God would choose to allow suffering to happen so much even if he is using it for your good. [00:45:12]

Ultimately Jesus assures us that being more like him will one day be rewarded when the Kingdom of Heaven comes and all the Injustice that comes from suffering will be made right actually made right is a massive understatement because in Romans 8 Paul says I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. [00:45:12]