Gazing Down the Road

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18 ESV)

Gazing down the road in the midst of suffering is not always the easiest thing to do. As was noted in the previous post, generally in the midst of suffering we keep our focus upon what we are experiencing right now. Sometimes, because of this, we are scared to look up and we are scared to look down the road. We wonder if the bumps that we are going to have to navigate are even larger and scarier than the ones we are navigating right now. We don't want to look, instead we want to take just one bump at a time.

Taking one bump at at time is a good way to navigate the bumps along the way. But in order to keep hope alive, we must take time to stop and gaze down the road. The Apostle Paul tells us that it is useless to compare the present bumps with what lies ahead. And what lies ahead? Glory.

Glory is the beauty of God. The beauty of God himself is not something that we can see right now with our human eyes. The psalmist says in Psalm 63 that he has seen the power and glory of God. But the place where he saw it was in the sanctuary. This is the place where God reveals his glory.

On the road of life, we are to do all things for God's glory. God created us to bring glory to him. This is why we live. This is why we sometimes suffer. Suffering prepares us for God's glory.

God's glory is both present and future. We can see glimpses of God's glory all around us. But these are just glimpses. We eagerly wait for the day when God's complete and total glory is revealed. As Paul says in the very next verse, "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God" (ESV).

But in the meantime, as we wait, suffering is part of this life. However, we have the hope of God's glory being revealed. So we press on. We keep walking. We see his glory in some of the little things around us: the beauty of a sunrise, the flash of the lightning, the snow-covered mountains, the hand of a friend. These are all glimpses of God's glory, but as we stop and gaze down the road, even as we take one bump at a time, we know that there is so much more that lies ahead.

I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. (Psalm 63:2-5 NIV)

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