Tomorrow at 2:30 my daughter will be having spinal surgery. As I have prepared for this moment one passage of scripture has been impressed upon my heart as a means of comfort. The Word of God does indeed have a message for us in every situation.
Romans 5:3-5 states: More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and this hope does not put us to shame. Because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
As I have meditated and reflected on this verse much benefit and good for my soul has resulted. God ordains sufferings in our lives to produce in us endurance. This is what we all need, a deep faith that lasts through good and bad days, a faith strong and firm that will not die out when age and life make us weary. A faith that carries on and holds fast to the end. We need this for we are all prone to enjoy the ease of life and the comfort of this world and think to ourselves, “I do not need God.” So God gives us trials to stir our desperation for him.
This endurance, then, produces in us character. That is it produces in us a dependence upon God. It produces the kind of personality and character traits that point to a man who trusts God. Oh, how I need my character refined, to bring me closer to becoming that man who relies upon God.
Then this character produces hope. When we are the kind of people who put their trust totally in God then we can have true hope. When we put our hope in other things we find ourselves overcome with fear and doubt. A displaced trust leads, not to hope, but frustration and anxiety. This is especially hard when it comes to surgery, for after all you want the best surgeons, the greatest odds, the percentages to be just right, and that is not bad, but when my whole hope rests in these things and not in the power and mercy of God there is cause for anxiety, for the cannot guarantee good things for me (as Romans 8:28 and Psalm 84:11 tell me God does). So when my character is strengthened to put my trust totally in God then I have true hope.
And, the passage continues, this hope does not put us to shame. This is not an empty hope, a hope to be embarrassed by, a hope in vain. No We cant truly hope without worry that we will be left wanting or deceived. Not that this means we will always get want we want, and this too is particularly hard to hear as you face the surgery of your precious little girl. But when my hope is in God and when I truly trust him then I know that all that He does is good for me and my family, and for my baby girl too. That is an eternally lasting hope, not one based on outcomes of prayers prayed.
Finally the passage concludes that the reason we can have such a sure hope is because God has already given us evidences of His goodness and trustworthiness via the pouring out of His love into our hearts, and the giving of the Holy Spirit (who is, after all, the seal of our salvation, cf. Ephesians 1:13). God gives us this great assurance that He wants what’s best for us and He can be counted on to deliver.
What a tremendous boost to my confidence this Scripture is as I face tomorrow. To know that when I hand off my baby girl to those surgeons that God is in control and that control takes into consideration my need, my wife’s need, my baby’s need, and His love is a comfort beyond all others. I hope this passage serves you as well as it has me.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 