God created a perfectly balanced universe and, as far as we can tell, the earth is the only place he put living things. We have not been able to detect life in any other part of the universe, but there is life in every part of the earth. The soil, rocks, air, and water – all of them contain life. God created seemingly endless kinds of life on earth.

Human beings were God’s highest creation and also the most destructive. God made the earth as the perfect support for human life, but of all God’s creatures we are the most likely to foul and destroy the place where we live. We often kill and waste the precious resources on the earth and ignore the consequences.

“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:20-21

People and the earth are inextricably bound to each other. When people sin, the earth suffers, but someday, when people are fully redeemed and raised to eternal life, the earth will be made new and set free.

Until then the earth suffers.

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.” Romans 8:22-23

So we wait and hope – and the Holy Spirit helps us.

Learning to Talk to God

Spiritual growth requires healthy doses of two things: The word and prayer. The word is our spiritual food and prayer is our spiritual oxygen. The soul needs both to flourish.

Most people feel they don’t know how to pray very well, and the Lord loves that, because he wants to be the one to teach us how to pray. He invites beginners to come to him and learn. In fact, having a beginner’s mindset is the very thing that gives the Holy Spirit opportunities to teach us.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

The prophet Ezekiel and the Apostle John both had the privilege of eavesdropping on heaven and hearing God’s voice. Both of them described it as the sound of many waters, like a river rushing through a ravine. It was the sound of the Trinity in constant conversation – and people were the topic.

When we begin to pray, the Holy Spirit comes to help us. He draws us into the conversation already taking place at the throne of God, in the language of heaven, which sounds to us like wordless groans. The Father and the Son search our hearts and listen to the Spirit, then they agree together regarding the will of God for us.

The answer to our prayers comes as God organizes our circumstances into the perfect plan.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Whatever happens after we pray, we can say with confidence, “This is God’s good plan for me.”

God’s Great Love

God has already given us his very best in the person of his Son Jesus who died for us. Why would he withhold any other good thing from us?

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32

And who can condemn us if God doesn’t?

Jesus had every right to condemn us for what our sins did to him, but he is on our side! He’s at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us this very minute. The entire Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit are working for our well-being.

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

God Chose Israel

As he spoke of those whom God loved, Paul expressed his deep love and connection to his own people in the nation of Israel. God chose them to be his children and they were the ones to whom he revealed his glory. He gave them the covenants, the law, and promises that pointed the way to salvation. Their patriarchs are the fathers of our faith.

The Sovereignty of God

God demonstrated his absolute sovereignty by choosing Jacob over Esau to be the father of the nation of Israel. It was for the sake of Israel that God went to war with Pharaoh. He hardened Pharaoh’s heart by making him choose over and over whether he would comply with God’s commands. Pharaoh chose against God until he finally went too far and was defeated.

“For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.” Romans 9:17-18

People wonder how God can blame them for what they do when it’s impossible to resist his will.

“But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?” Romans 9:20-21

Whatever God does is for the purpose of showing people who God is. And God is good to everyone who accepts his will for them.

Israel’s Unbelief

Paul was sad that the Gentiles, who didn’t have the history with God the Jews had, understood salvation before the Jews did. God created the nation of Israel and they belonged to him, but they stumbled over the most important thing he sent them, his Son Jesus the Messiah.

Jesus was the ideal Jew; he kept the Law perfectly and fulfilled the words of the prophets, but many of his countrymen rejected him. They hardened their hearts against him and refused to accept that he was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.

“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge . . . [that] Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” Romans 10:1-4

Paul, who was called to be a missionary to the Gentiles, ached to see his fellow Jews accept Jesus as their Messiah.

Finding the Messiah

When Moses gave the law to Israel, he said that anyone who kept the law would be righteous in God’s eyes. But no one could keep the law no matter how hard they tried.

They needed their Messiah to rescue them, but where could they go to find him?

“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘Who will descend into the deep? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” Romans 10:6-7

Meeting Christ was not an impossible task because he came to them and all they had to do was receive him.

“‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:8-10

It was so easy to receive salvation through Jesus Christ that it’s hard to understand why anyone rejected him. But not everyone believed that Jesus was Lord, and that was the starting point. When they heard and believed the message about Jesus, and professed their faith with their own words, they were saved. And that is still true for us today.

One Savior for All

It didn’t matter whether a person was a Jew or a Gentile; Jesus was the one who saved them all.

“As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” Romans 10:11-13

All they need is someone to tell them the good news about Jesus.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” Romans 10:14-15

They have to believe what they hear, but hearing is the first step.

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:17

All of us who know Jesus can tell what we know and when people hear us, they can believe and be born again. And that’s the greatest gift we can give anyone.