Good You Can’t See Yet | Romans 8:18-39 | Crossroads Daily

The best way I can look at it is, you guys ever seen Mad Max? No. You've never seen Mad Max? No. Like the old scary. It's terrible. Anyway, it's terrible. I mean, not terrible, but it's awesome. And there's a vivid scene I remember in the movie where there's this carnage along this highway and the car breaks through and there's blue sky ahead. The blue sky was always there. It was always there. We just had to get through the carnage. Now, could we have skipped it? Maybe, maybe. But who he was on the other side, he would not have been. The same is true for me. I would not be who I am without the things I have suffered. And praise God for suffering. This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Jamie. I'm Josh. I'm Alex. All right, y'all, I need some help. I need some help,

because one of the things we want to reflect on in this one is have you ever experienced God's goodness only in hindsight? And what did you learn from that? And I feel like I'm in one of those seasons where I'm not on the other side of it yet. You're in the middle of it. I'm in the middle of it. I feel like the hits just keep on coming. There's a lot in my life. Somebody put it to me the other day, there's a lot in my life. Somebody put it to me this way. They said, we need three homes. Our home home, a vocational home, and a church home, a body of Christ home. And when those are disrupted, it's challenging. And I'll just be honest and say all three of those are disrupted for me right now. Oh, man. All three of them, that's right. So I'm asking for a friend. I'm asking for this friend. I'm the friend. Can you think of a time where you've experienced God's provision, his goodness, but only in hindsight? What did you learn from that? I feel like most of the time it's in hindsight. That's what I was gonna say. It's not a season, it's a condition.

I feel like I rarely see the goodness in the moment. It's only like, oh God, you were there, you did the thing. Sometimes there are those mountaintop moments where the thing happens that's rare for me. I feel like it's generally in hindsight unless I'm in a place in my life with a rhythm of gratitude. A rhythm of gratitude keeps me, I'm able to see, oh, that was goodness. That was goodness. Even if it's pain, that was goodness. That's good. Yeah, I think my default response in hardship and stress and anxiety is my creature comforts or my vices and that kind of thing. And then there's a moment of external intervention because I would love to say it comes from me. But some sort of external prompt that points me back to God. And then gratitude, yeah, if I'm not, you can tell when your heart, not in the good way we're called to be salt, but when your heart gets salty. And then you're just like, the sky is super blue, but I'm still annoyed about everything. I'm the rainy cloud, right? And so, yeah, I would love to tell you that. And then I just walk through every hardship, like, God's got this. I might know that, but just in that space of like, yeah, this just sucks.

And okay, God, I'm gonna choose to show you gratitude because I need something to look at other than all of this despair. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we know Paul says you will have suffering in your life. And I think even knowing that, there's still a piece of me when hits happen that feels surprised in a way. Like, yeah, but I am living in the goodness of God or whatever. Like, there's still some part of me that's like, yeah, but not suffering for me. Like, not my life. Like, I don't deserve this or whatever it is. There's still that piece. So even though I've seen the faithfulness of God so many times, a specific example, I think that felt so confusing to me is having a relationship with Jesus and struggling with depression at the same time. Preach, sister. Yeah. So yeah, if you know, you know. That is so hard because you know these promises are true. There's the joy of the Lord and healing and all of these things. And yet you're struggling with this weight, this cloud that's over you.

And it is so. It is so hard to sometimes see the goodness or be in gratitude in those seasons. And it's not until hindsight where you see the Lord working. Yeah, that's right. That's really helpful. So I'm hearing is like, yes, it's usually in hindsight. Usually not in the moment. And I do think about gratitude. Gratitude is an act of resistance against the evil one. It's our only weapon. Exactly. I believe it's our only weapon. And so in the middle, even in the middle of it, the one thing we can do is look for those gratitudes. I think that's really, really powerful. There's so much here. Paul says nothing can separate us from God. And just to reread kind of the list that he comes up with here, you know, neither death nor life, nor angels or rulers, things present or things to come, powers, height or death, anything else in all creation, nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And this is where I love Paul. Like, you know, I grew up in the urban context. And so in my neighborhood, we had what we called OGs. It stands for original gangster.

And many of them were actually gangsters. They actually were. But even if they didn't have that in their background, just guys who had lived life and were willing to talk about what's real. And I think the reason that Paul is relatable in saying nothing can separate us from God is because this bro has been tested. He's seen it, right? And I think there's something powerful about that. As you think about what he names, is there anything that just really resonates for your life or for this season of like, yeah, I've seen it. And I know that even this is something that God works through. I think that might be encouraging for other people. We get to be OGs today. You get to be OGs today. Somebody might be listening. Well, I mean, to the depression discussion, I mean, that has been, for me, the entirety of my life dealing with depression and anxiety. And I, so I'm 50 now. And at 50, I'm happier than I have ever been in my life. Now, it didn't happen in a day. It didn't even happen in 20 years. Yeah. But now I can look back at the journey that the Lord has taken me through, the suffering. And I go, oh my gosh.

And I was actually having a conversation with one of my kids about it. And he said, I mean, it just sounded, we were talking about our lives and my growing up life. And he's like, that just feels hard. And I was like, yeah, and I wouldn't change a single thing. I would not change a single thing. And why is that? Talk about that. Well, further on, Paul says, we are heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ if indeed we share in his suffering. Come on. And I just think we are who we are when we come out the other side of suffering with Jesus, you know, the yoke, we yoke to Jesus. We're there with Jesus on the other side of it, we go, yes, yes. And the thing we're inheriting, it's not a castle, it's not a bank, it is hope. It is hope beyond hope. Yeah. That's the thing we're inheriting. Amen. What I hear you saying, my mom used to say it this way, like, there are things you need to know in your knower. I don't know where your knower is, but you understand what she's saying. And I think that's what I hear you saying is like, suffering puts some truths about God in your knower

that you don't get, even if you have a discipline of reading this every day, which you should read this every day. But like, but there's some stuff that you get through suffering. That's what I hear you saying. And I think, you know, tied to the happiness though, like for you to say you're the happiest you've been at 50. The happiest I've ever been at 50, yes. I think it's because, so the best way I can look at it is, you guys ever seen Mad Max? No. Yeah. You've never seen Mad Max? No. It sounds scary. It's terrible. Anyway, it's terrible. I mean, not terrible, but it's awesome. And there's a vivid scene I remember in the movie where there's this carnage along this highway and the car breaks through and there's blue sky ahead. The blue sky was always there. It was always there. We just had to get through the carnage. And the, now could we have skipped it? Maybe, maybe, but who he was on the other side, he would not have been. The same is true for me.

I would not be who I am without the things I have suffered. And praise God for suffering. Stephen Colbert did an interview with, I can't remember who whose name was, the interviewer said, he quoted him, he said, there is no punishments of God that aren't a gift. Wow. In the Anderson Cooper, it was Anderson Cooper. And he asked that question and he broke down and cried and said, do you really believe that? And. And Stephen Colbert said, yeah, I do. Wow. I do. And they had both gone through suffering in that, lots of grief and lots of loss. And for Anderson, it just, it touched his soul. Like he, it was, he was in such a place of pain. And that statement for him was not alien, but it was just like, please, you got to tell me, help me understand, help me understand. And that's the gift we have. Yeah. That's the gift we have. And now you get to share that hope and experience with people who are going through that suffering like you've been through. That's right. Amen. So Paul's right.

Paul's telling the truth. Sounds like it. Telling the truth. There's nothing. Listen, I. Hot take. No, I don't think Paul. Exactly. You know, I would imagine that there are folks who are watching right now who are going through hell, going through hell. And maybe it is depression, or maybe it is something else in your life. One of the things that was helpful to me and a counselor gave me this, they said, you know what? Chuck, I know that you don't see hope in this situation. Borrow my hope. And so I want to just give you permission to borrow our hope, to borrow the hope of our brother, Paul, that no matter what you're going through, nothing, absolutely nothing can separate you from God's love.