And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 

—Romans 8:28

A little over a year ago, we went through a series on apologetics which focused on answering common questions people raise in opposition to faith in Christ. The last question I wrote about was the question of pain—how can a good God allow so much pain in the world? 

The last couple of weeks have been painful (has it really only been 2 weeks since the beginning of the year?). My family has experienced loss, and we’ve gotten news that hints at coming loss. So maybe it’s mostly for myself, but I’m going back to the question of pain today. 

Here’s what I see when I look at Romans 8:28—I see redemption. The title of the section this verse is found in is “From Suffering to Glory.” It starts in verse 18, talking about the suffering Paul is experiencing and quickly moving on to the suffering of all creation. It’s an all-creation-is-groaning type of moment, but Paul encourages the Roman church to hope and pray. Why? Because God is going to redeem it.

Redemption is one of those words that we use today, but it has lost some of its meaning from what it originally meant in Scripture. We often use it to refer to a trade, like redeeming a coupon or fixing a past mistake, but that’s not what we’re talking about when we see redemption in Scripture. 

There was a concept, especially in the Old Testament called the kinsman-redeemer. If a woman’s husband died, it was the job of the nearest male relative to be that woman’s kinsman-redeemer and marry her. It was a practice meant to protect women at a time when being outside a man’s protection could potentially be deadly. It wasn’t just a swap or a do-over. It was a way of returning her to a place of honor and protection. 

That’s the biblical meaning of redemption—to return things to the way they were—but that’s only the human version. As we might expect, God takes things to another level. Over and over and over again in Scripture, when God steps up to the plate to redeem a fallen part of His creation, He doesn’t just return it to the way things were. He makes it so much better.

He took a boy who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and used him to save whole nations in a time of famine. He took the atrocity that Pharoah perpetrated against the Hebrew people by having their infant sons killed and raised up the leader who would lead the people out of Egypt. He took a woman’s deep grief over her infertility and used her to raise the judge and prophet who would anoint the first two kings of Israel. He took the cruel, unjust death of His only Son and used it to bring salvation to all of creation.

That’s what He does. He doesn’t take away the pain because pain is part of the consequence of sin, but He also doesn’t leave us in our pain. He comes and sits with us in the pain, and when He’s done, He’s made something beautiful out of the ashes (Isaiah 61:3). That’s what His redemption looks like.

I think it might be tempting to look at that and say, “Well, I’d really rather Him just take away the pain,” but if we say that, I think we’re missing out on a blessing.

Let’s say you’re going through a hard time. Would you rather have a friend who’s going to try to fix everything for you or would you rather have a friend who’s going to walk with you through the difficult situation even if that means sitting quietly on the couch beside you and letting you cry on their shoulder? 

We can all be the first kind of friend at times. There is nothing wrong with wanting to help our friends out when times get tough. But when things get bad enough that they can’t be easily fixed, the friend who is always trying to fix things might not be interested in hanging around. 

The other friend though, they’re not just in the relationship for a fun time. They’re there because they truly love you and will support you whether times are good or times are bad, and that’s the kind of friend God is. He’s not just interested in us in the good times. He’s completely invested and proves it over and over by drawing near to redeem our pain and make something good and beautiful out of it.