The Reason for Sorrow and Anguish

Guest Post by Pastor David Roh

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Two Key Convictions

As Christians, we all know that we should pray and that we should evangelize. But as people in the Reformed tradition, we also believe that God will surely save those whom He has chosen. So then we wonder… can our prayers actually change the number of people God has chosen to save? Can our prayers really change God’s will?

Honestly, sometimes it feels like God’s sovereignty is so much bigger than our small, quiet prayers. And that kind of thinking can sometimes leave us feeling helpless when it comes to prayer. I also know many of you have been praying for someone, maybe for decades. I know there are people on your hearts—your neighbors, your family members, maybe your own children. You’ve been praying so long, and it seems like nothing has changed. I can imagine some of you might be feeling a different kind of helplessness because of that.

So today, I want to talk about this question with you: What should we pray for when we pray for evangelism?

God’s Will is Already Set

First, we believe that God’s will is already set, but it is hidden from us. In our theology, we believe that God chose His people for salvation before the foundation of the world. But He has never fully revealed to us who those people are. In other words, we don’t have the right or ability to say, “This person will be saved, and this person will not.” So, we must keep asking. We must keep lifting up our loved ones in prayer, trusting God with their salvation.

God Chooses to Work Through People

Second, our good and sovereign God chooses to work through people to carry out His will. Yes, He could use supernatural power to turn people into Christians instantly. He could do that. But He doesn’t. Instead, He chooses to use human beings—people like you and me, with free will—to bring the gospel to others. This is how God has chosen to bring salvation into the world.

Throughout the book of Acts and the New Testament letters, we see story after story of people being used by God to spread the gospel. And the reason we are here today, the reason we believe, is because someone—maybe a parent, a friend, a pastor—shared the gospel with us. God works through people. And when someone shares the gospel, that moment becomes a kind of love offering to God.

This is the foundation of the message I want to share with you today. We are the people who go into the world with the gospel, not because we know all of God’s will, but because we want His hidden will to be made known. This is our confession of faith.

The Joy of Apostle Paul

Last year, a friend and I went to Alabama to present a paper at an academic conference. While we were there, we randomly walked into a small Japanese restaurant, and it turned out to be amazing. The sushi and a few other dishes we tried were enough to blow us away completely. From the very first bite, we were so surprised by how good it was. And to make it even better, the prices were low, and the service was excellent.

So do you know what we did for the rest of the conference? Honestly, I probably did something a little silly. Instead of talking about the big ideas being presented, I kept talking about that restaurant. I told every person we met: “You have to try that sushi place right by the venue. It’s cheap and it’s so, so good.” I probably talked about that restaurant more than I did about my own paper!

Why do I tell you this story? Because this is how we are as human beings. When we experience something excellent, we want to share it. It’s in our nature to tell others about what we love. If we eat something delicious, we want others to enjoy it too. If we find something good, we want others to experience it with us. Why? Because we’ve tasted that it’s good. We know it’s excellent. And when we know something is excellent, we can’t help but talk about it. That’s just how we are.

In Romans chapter 8, we see something similar in the apostle Paul. It’s like he has found the best “spiritual meal” imaginable—and now he’s overflowing with joy, just like I was at that restaurant. Romans chapter 8 is one of the most powerful chapters in all of Scripture. It’s all about the wonder and joy of being saved.

Paul begins by declaring, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And then, throughout chapter 8, he keeps unpacking the incredible love of God that saves us. In verse 31, he says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Then in verse 32, he reminds us that God didn’t spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all. In verse 35, Paul boldly says that nothing—no trouble, no hardship, no persecution, no famine, no nakedness, no danger, or no sword—can separate us from the love of Christ.

Then, in verses 36 and 37, he says that even if we face death or persecution, we are “more than conquerors” through Christ who loves us. And finally, Paul ends the chapter with this incredible confession: 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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.

Now, let’s imagine Paul writing this letter to the believers in Rome. Can you picture his face as he writes these words? I imagine him with eyes wide open, full of amazement and joy. He’s overflowing with praise. He’s experienced a love so deep, so strong, that nothing in the universe can separate him from it—not pain, not death, not powers, not time, not anything. This love, this unbreakable bond with God, was given to Paul—a sinner—by the grace of God. So when Paul describes this love, he does it with unspeakable joy, delight, and hope. That’s the kind of emotion that fills this Chapter 8.

A New Testament scholar named Lyle Story wrote a paper in 2021 about Romans 8 that offers great insight into this. He reflects on what kind of holy affections Paul is experiencing in this chapter. He says that those who are truly saved experience a deep sense of joy, and Romans 8 is filled with those kinds of emotions—hope, freedom, comfort, peace, and love—all pouring out in just a few verses.

Dear brothers and sisters, have you ever experienced this kind of joy? Are you experiencing it now? The Christian faith begins with amazement. The moment we realize that we, small and broken as we are, are deeply loved by the Creator of the universe, it changes everything. And not just loved, but loved so much that He gave His own Son for us. Though we were full of sin, Jesus died in our place. Because of His death, we are forgiven. We are made new. We come to know God’s love, and we are now able to return that love back to Him.

That’s why Romans 8:15 says, “and by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” In Paul’s day, “Abba” had the feeling of saying “Papa” or “Daddy.” That’s how close and tender God wants to be with us. He gave up His Son so that He could adopt us as His children. He longs to hear us call Him “Daddy.” When this truth hits our hearts, we experience a joy too deep for words. That is the heart of the Christian faith. The American theologian Jonathan Edwards once said, “True faith rests on religious affections.” That means real faith is full of affection, holy, godly emotion. Not just loving God in a small way, but burning with love for Him. Loving God passionately because we’ve experienced Christ’s love for us. Knowing that we can call Him “Abba”—that is the center of our faith.

So, dear brothers and sisters, we must pray today that God would give us this kind of joy. I imagine some of you had this joy a long time ago. The Puritan theologian John Owen once said that the moment we first become aware of how heavy our sin is, and then feel the relief of being forgiven, that’s the moment we feel the most joy. He called it our “first conversion.”

But here’s the truth: we can’t live on that first conversion experience alone. Yes, we are born again, but we still wrestle with sin. Our hearts still tend to love the world more than God. That’s why John Owen encouraged believers to keep repenting, keep clinging to Christ, and keep coming back to that sense of amazement. He called this the “second conversion” or the “repeated conversion” of the heart. Again and again, we need to come back to the cross. We repent. We believe. We remember we are God’s children. That’s the life of faith. And part of our mission as believers is to keep recovering that joy of salvation.

Think back to that moment when the gospel first broke through the weight of your sin. That message set you free. But maybe now… it feels like that was a long time ago. Maybe your heart doesn’t feel moved anymore. If that’s us, we need to pray. If this is us, we need to start pray again. We need to ask God to remind us again how beautiful the gospel really is. We need to ask Him to soften our hearts. If we are feeling numb or dry or unable to love God, it is time to ask Him to pour His love into our small hearts once more. This is the first thing we need to pray.

We need to remember that when this happens, evangelism stops feeling like a burden. It’s no longer a task. When you’ve tasted something excellent, you want to talk about it. When you’ve seen the beauty of our Father, you want to tell others about Him. That sense of wonder and joy—that’s the foundation of evangelism. And that’s the first lesson we can take from today’s passage.

Paul’s Sudden Shift in Emotion

Romans chapter 9 together: 1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race.

Dear brothers and sisters, what kind of emotions do you think Paul is expressing here? Yes, as the text says, sorrow and anguish. Just a moment ago, at the end of chapter 8, Paul was overflowing with amazement, joy, and hope. But now, as we turn the page to chapter 9, it’s like he has fallen into deep sadness and pain. Now remember—when the authors of the New Testament first wrote their letters, they didn’t use chapter and verse numbers. Those divisions were added much later to help us find our way around. Romans was originally written as one continuous letter.

So in that context, Paul’s sudden shift in emotion is actually very striking. How could someone go from speaking about joy, delight, and hope, straight into sorrow and anguish? In fact, some psychologists have even suggested that Paul might have suffered from a mood disorder like bipolar disorder. And some liberal scholars have argued that this sharp emotional turn suggests that Romans was not written by one person, but by several authors.

But I don’t agree with those critiques. Why? Because for believers, this kind of emotional shift actually makes perfect sense. When a person experiences something truly good, they naturally start thinking about the people who don’t have it. When someone tastes deep joy, it also makes them aware of others who are still missing out. I was born and raised in South Korea. As many of you know, Korea was divided into North and South following the Korean War in 1950. Today, North Korea is still under communist control, and many people there live in extreme poverty. Some even die from hunger. That’s why, even today, many North Koreans risk everything to escape and find freedom in the South.

There’s a documentary called Beyond Utopia that was released in 2024. It shows how some North Korean people manage to escape their country in secret. There’s one scene in the film that really struck me. A young boy, after escaping to South Korea, is sitting down to eat a delicious meal for the first time in his life. He smells the food, and then begins eating quickly, as if he can’t believe it’s real. But then, suddenly, he breaks down in tears. He sobs uncontrollably.

Why? Why did he start crying? Because he remembered his family still stuck in North Korea. He was tasting freedom and abundance, but his loved ones were still in hunger and danger. The boy couldn’t stop crying because he knew they were missing what he had now found.

Beloved brothers and sisters, this is exactly the kind of emotional tension that the gospel brings. When someone truly experiences the goodness of the gospel, they are filled with deep joy—but that joy is often followed by sorrow for those who don’t yet know it. This is the sorrow that Paul is experiencing in Romans 9. In verse 3, he says, “For the sake of my own people, my brothers and sisters, I wish I myself could be cursed and cut off from Christ.” Paul’s pain and anguish are because of those who don’t know the gospel.

And so, dear friends, this leads us to the second thing we must pray for. Those of us who have experienced God’s love must also feel burdened for those who have not. Think back to that earlier story about a great restaurant. You visited, you loved it, and naturally, you wanted others to enjoy it too. Let me give you another example. One of my Korean friends moved to the U.S. and became obsessed with golf. In Korea, golf is usually only for the wealthy, but here in the U.S., it’s much more accessible. So my friend started playing, and now he’s hooked. Every time we meet, he tells me how great golf is.

He keeps trying to take me to the course—but so far, he hasn’t succeeded! But that’s how people are. When we discover something fun or exciting, we want others to join in. We want to share it. We want others to experience the joy that we have found. That’s human nature. Now think about this in light of the gospel. We haven’t just found a fun hobby—we’ve experienced the beauty and power of God’s grace. We’ve tasted the excellence of Christ’s blood. We’ve known the weight of our sin and the freedom of forgiveness. That experience is far greater than discovering a good restaurant or falling in love with a game.

The gospel should draw people in more than any of those things. It is more satisfying. It is more glorious. It is more life-giving. Dear friends, remember: Jesus said that the whole law is summed up in two commands—Love God and love your neighbor. When you truly love God, you get caught up in the wonder of His love. And when you truly love your neighbor, you begin to feel a deep sorrow that they don’t yet know that love. This is the most powerful motivation for evangelism.

So our second prayer must be this: “Lord, open my eyes to see those around me.” We need to pray that God would give us a heart that aches for people who don’t yet know Him. There are many around us—even right now—who are perishing without the gospel. In our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our families—there are people who are struggling in their sins and drowning in despair. Let’s ask God to open our eyes to see them. And let’s ask Him to help us feel compassion for them again. That is the second lesson we learn today.

Application and Conclusion

Dear brothers and sisters, I’d like to wrap up today’s message by sharing a story from a church I once served in Korea. I served as a pastor in Korea for a total of 12 years. The last church I served at had around 3,300 people attending on Sundays. Like many other countries, Korea isbecoming an aging society, and this church was also seeing more elderly members joining—mostly retirees. Every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m., the church would gather retired members and housewives who didn’t work outside the home to go out and evangelize.

Every week, about 400 to 500 people would gather. They would first come together in the main sanctuary to pray for 30 minutes. If you’ve never experienced Korean prayer culture, it may be a little different from what you’re used to here in the U.S. It’s actually quite similar to what Jonathan Edwards once described in his day as a “concert of prayer.”

In Korea, people pray out loud—all at once—for a set period of time. Their emotions and passion fill the room. If you were to walk into that prayer meeting, you might feel overwhelmed by the sound and intensity. There’s usually someone leading from the front, and the piano plays softly in the background as everyone prays together. In this prayer meeting, there were always two main prayer topics. First: That those who share the gospel would be filled with God’s amazing love. Second: That those who share the gospel would have a deep love for our neighbors.

After about 30 minutes of this heartfelt prayer, the 500 people would spread out all over the city. Unlike here in the U.S., Korea is actually quite skeptical of Christianity. Around 80% of the population doesn’t attend church, but they’re very familiar with Christian culture. Most people don’t like being approached on the street about religion, and many will avoid even taking a small gospel tract or card. So at times, street evangelism can feel ineffective.

But still, we believed it was worth it. Why? Because: first, sharing the gospel is one of the things that God values the most. Second, being rejected for the sake of God’s name is a worthy thing. Third, God often uses that very act of evangelizing to grow our love for Him in our hearts. We believed God delights in this kind of faithfulness. And each year, that church would welcome around 350 to 400 new believers. This was one of the blessings of the evangelism at that church.

Dear brothers and sisters, evangelism is the mission of the Church. But it’s not a burden or a task to check off. It flows naturally from the amazement we’ve experienced in knowing God. I hope that each of you will live under God’s love, enjoyingHis beauty and character. And I pray that we would also become people who see our neighbors—those who do not yet know this love.