We Need To Trust God

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. And God, who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:26-39 (NRSVue)

If there is a fundamental truth about the human condition that unites us all, it is that we desperately want to be in control, to be the authors of our own destiny, the fixers of our own problems, and the heroes of our own stories. We build our resumes, we curate our public images, and we try to do enough to prove ourselves and the world, and perhaps even God, that we have it all together. However, Paul, in his systematic theological treatise to Rome, enforces an uncomfortable reality that when we rely entirely on ourselves, we fail. We lack energy as it always feels as if we are empty. Meanwhile, the wisdom within always falls short because the baggage we carry becomes too heavy to bear. At the very end of our own strength, Paul delivers some of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words.”

Trusting God requires that we admit our weakness and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us. The world’s messaging bombards our senses, proclaiming that weakness is a liability, but amid God’s grace, our weakness is the very passage through which the Spirit intervenes. There are days when the world is too heavy, when the grief is too sharp, or when the confusion makes it too difficult for us to even string a sentence together in prayer. Paul instructs us that we don’t need the perfect words or our theology perfectly figured out before we approach the Almighty. All we need is to trust. Let go of the illusion of control and allow the Spirit to intercede for us. As we step back and let the Spirit take the wheel, we stop trying to dictate the terms of our lives and start moving in accordance with God’s will. We move from anxious striving into a posture of holy trust.

To let go of our self-reliance, we must anchor our trust entirely in who Jesus was, who Jesus is, and who Jesus will be. Paul reminds us “Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” If we build our spiritual foundation on what we have done for ourselves, the structure will eventually collapse. If we rely on our own righteousness, our own moral track record, or our own acts of charity to justify us, we will always come up short. Our faith is not a works-based anxiety trap; however, it is a grace-based sanctuary. We are not saved by our own status and record; we are saved by the conquering love of Christ on the cross. When we stop trying to cover ourselves with our fragile achievements, we are invited to immerse ourselves in the Holy Spirit and the victory accomplished by Jesus. Covered in His grace, empowered by His Spirit, we suddenly become more than we could have ever been on our own. Paul states it like this, “In all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us.” That victory is not a testament to human grit; it is a testament to God’s holy grace.

Once we understand that we are justified by God’s grace, not by our own perfection, the church must exist as a reflection of that reality. When the broader church operates as a country club for the morally righteous, it sends the message that you need to clean up your life, sort out your baggage, and achieve a certain level of perfection before you are welcome. However, Paul dismantles that image because, if we cannot even pray as we ought without the Spirit’s help, how on earth can we demand perfection from anyone who comes into the church? We cannot demand that people join this beloved community by getting their lives in perfect order. Rather, we invite them to bring their baggage and hand it to Jesus at the cross. We invite people by freeing them from the exhausting treadmill of self-justification. The church must become a space where everyone stops performing and pretending to be self-righteous and allows the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives. All of us must be allowed to let go of heavy bags of shame, guilt, and pride. When we finally have our hands free, we can fully receive the love of God in Christ Jesus and offer it to the world.

The beginning of this path starts when we recognize that we need to trust God. We need to trust that when we fail, God’s Grace succeeds. We need to trust that when we don’t have the words, the Spirit speaks for us. We need to trust that the cross was enough. When we get there, we find assurance. There are a number of terrifying things in our universe: death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, heights, depths, and anything else in all creation; however, in the midst of it all, it is declared that none of it can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We cannot out-sin the grace of God. We cannot fall so far that the Spirit cannot intercede for you. We are not perfect; we only have to trust. We must let go of the baggage and cover ourselves in the Spirit, trusting in the conquering love of Jesus Christ. With all of that, we walk forward into the world, secure in the knowledge that we are utterly, completely, and eternally held.