And there is a theology
that faith in God will give you a ticket out of hardship.
Faith in God will mean you will be healthy,
faith in God will mean you will be wealthy,
faith in God will mean things will go well for you.
In fact, there's actually a passage,
it's the most misinterpreted passage and scripture,
that drives that theology.
It's Romans 8:28. Do you know Romans 8:28?
"For we know that all things will work together for good,
for those who love God
and are called according to His purpose."
And so people say,
"Cheer up! Everything will work for good.
That's God's promise."
It's not what it means.
You can't take that verse out of the Bible
and put it on a plaque and have it mean anything whatsoever,
because if you read 29 and 30,
well, I want to actually read this to you
because I think it's worth doing,
because it really gets at the misconception
that is confronted in this passage.
"And we know that for those who love God,
all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to His purpose."
Now, listen, "For those who may foreknew
He also predestined to be
conformed to the image of His Son
in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers
and those whom He predestined, He also called
and those whom He called, He also justified.
And those whom He justified, He also glorified.
Verses 29 and 30
unpack verse 28.
What is the good?
Your redemption.
The good that nothing can stand in the way of.
The good that you are guaranteed to get.
The good that all things in your life
are moving toward is your redemption.
In fact, here's what Paul is arguing
that the grace you are now placing your faith in
is never risky.
It's never at stake
because present grace is just a current expression
of a plan settled before the foundation of the earth.
Isn't that awesome?
Present grace is just a current expression
of a plan settled before the world was formed.
That's what's being taught.
God's not making it up along the way.
And so,
it's absolutely not true
that faith in God is an automatic ticket
to a comfortable, predictable,
pleasurable, healthy, wealthy life.
In fact, I would say this:
If you look at the history of humanity,
if that's what God has promised, He's a massive failure.
We should burn our Bibles and walk away.
Now here's what this confronts us with:
God will do whatever He wants to do to get His glory.
It's not about us.
And so if a triumphant victory
is what gives God glory,
then He will use you as a tool of that.
If horrible suffering is what gives God glory,
then He will do that.
He is in the center of the redemptive story.
And ultimately,
the thing that God is most committed to
is the success of His own glory.
And there's no safer place
than to be willing to be part of that.
Because whatever I'm going through in this moment
will seem like a flash of a moment
in the forever that He has guaranteed me.
And 10,000 years into eternity, we'll look back
and what was dramatic and horrible and hard
will look like a little thing
in comparison to the glory
that's been showered down on us.