Where is God when it hurts? It’s a haunting question with many unsatisfactory answers. But in short, God is with us and working. He is with us when we can’t feel it, and God is working to accomplish his purposes in our pain. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice in it – somehow. I invite you to get a Bible – in print or electronic – and start working through all or part of the prayers, scripture reading, questions, and devotional reading below. May the Lord bless you as you do so. And may the Spirit of God work in each of us to shape us to be a little more like Jesus, today.

— Praise God with Me: (1)
O God, the author and foundation of hope,
enable us to rely with confident expectation on your promises,
knowing that the trials and hindrances of the present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed,
and having our faces steadfastly set toward the light
that shines more and more to the perfect day,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

— Let us read and reflect on Scripture:
A little background: Nicky Gumble says that if the epistles of the New Testament are like mountains, Romans is like the Himalayas, and Romans 8 is Mount Everest. The words of Romans 8 point profoundly to the reality that God’s ways and thoughts are all tied together in God’s love for us, and all of it is higher, wider, deeper, and broader than we can imagine.

Come Holy Spirit, help us to remember who we are and who you are!
Romans 8:26-39

— Answer these four questions:
What does this passage say about God?
What does this passage say about people?
As a result of this reading, what is one step God is inviting you to take?
Who is one person you will tell about that step today?

— With a Heart of Prayer, Let us Respond: (2)
Almighty, All Powerful, All Knowing God,
You are sovereign. You hold our future and our past.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our lives are laid open before you and nothing is hidden.
Nothing can separate us from your love. Nothing is beyond your redemptive power.
Nothing will happen or has happened that you can’t use for your purposes.
Your work and your ways are beyond us. Help us to trust you today.

— Let’s Gather Wisdom from One Who Walked with Christ before us: (3)
The fact [of Christ’s death on the cross for us] is something we must always have before our minds. That is a good reason to wear or display a cross. For all the false and misleading associates that may surround it,it still says – even without the knowledge of the one displaying it – “I am bought by the sufferings and death of Jesus and I belong to God. The divine conspiracy of which I am a part stands over human history in the form of a cross”.
The individual disciples must have indelibly imprinted upon their souls the reality of this wonderful person who walked among us and suffered a cruel death to enable each of us to have life in God. It should become something that is never beyond the margins of their consciousness. “God” Paul said, “makes clear the greatness of his love for us through the fact that Christ died for us while we were still rebelling against him” (Romans 5:8).
The exclusiveness of the Christian revelation of God lies here. No one can have an adequate view of the heart and purposes of the God of the universe who does not understand that he permitted his son to die on the cross to reach out to all people, even people who hated him. That is who God is. But that is not just a “right answer” to a theological question. It is God looking at me from the cross with compassion and providing for me, with never-failing readiness to take my and to walk on through life from wherever I may find myself at the time.

— Let this glorify God today: (4)
May God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the source of all goodness and growth,
pour his blessing upon all things created, and upon us, his children, that we may use them to his glory and the welfare of all peoples. Amen.

Sources:
(1) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
(2) Original
(3) From The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard
(4) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources, edited.