Lesson 2: Extent of suffering – all creation
Romans 8:17-23 (ESV) - www.bible.com/bible/59/rom.8
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

In countless ways we hear about things going wrong with this world – global warming, the ice-caps melting, a depleting ozone layer, and the list goes on and on. The truth is, these things are happening, and they are mankind’s fault – but the lie is that we can do something to fix these things. We can’t because we cannot solve our sin problem ourselves. Only God can do that – and He did by sending Jesus to die for our sin.


We see earthquakes and great storms and volcanos and other kinds of natural disasters. Some combine with man-made things, like destroying nuclear power plants, to increase by great magnitudes their own disastrous effects. Illnesses, such as Ebola, escape their natural habitats to wreak pain and suffering on countless people. And only by God’s grace and mercy are there ways to stop or limit the suffering.
Just because we become followers of Jesus Christ does not mean the suffering will end for us. See verse 17 above – we are heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him… Suffering must come so we can be glorified with Him.

But verse 18 offers great comfort to us, for the sufferings of this present time will not even be weighed against the glory that is to be revealed in us when Christ has accomplished all He has for us. Think about the weight of a feather of a little bird being compared to the weight of a 30-story building. They could not even BE weighed by the same equipment if we tried. That’s God’s promise to us who are His followers – our suffering will not even be able to be weighed on the same scales as the glory He has waiting for us.

For now, while we are in this world, we only need to recognize the truth of suffering being caused by sin, and we become God’s hand of mercy to others around us. In the following lessons we will study both the individual purposes for suffering as well as our response to that suffering.

*What would happen if God sheltered His children from all suffering as soon as they became Christians? Do you think people would become Christians just so they could live a life free from suffering?
*What have you learned about God because He has allowed you to suffer which you probably wouldn’t know about Him otherwise?