Dan Fox - Romans 8:38-39

Romans 8:38-39
Trials

For I am sure 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.

When we choose to follow Jesus and commit our lives to Him, it does not mean that we are assured a future free from struggle and difficulty, tragedy and pain. Jesus himself was very clear about this. In John, chapter 16, He says to His disciples, "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." What the Lord does promise, repeatedly, throughout the Bible, is that He will never leave us or forsake us. As Christians, we do not get a free pass to avoid all suffering. But we can cling to the promise that God is with us, in every circumstance, no matter how difficult, and that nothing can separate us from His love.

In the verses preceding this passage in Romans Chapter 8, Paul asks the question, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" He then gives us a short list of some of the worst, the most terrifying things any person can experience (tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword). He concludes by saying that just as Jesus overcame the world, we are "more than conquerors," through Jesus. His victory, over sin and death, is our victory. None of these things can separate us.

In verses 38 and 39 of Romans 8, Paul expands and broadens his list of the things that might pull us away from God and His love. He goes way beyond the trials and challenges of life in a fallen world to the supernatural realm of life and death, angels and demonic forces, and declares that none of these things can do it. And he concludes with the words "... nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  

The only thing left off that list is God Himself, the Creator. We are a part of His creation, and Paul assures us here that even we, ourselves, cannot separate ourselves from His love. The love of God, in Christ, is an everlasting love.

Both of my parents died before I turned twenty-five. My younger brother, tragically, took his own life during a lengthy time of illness and suffering.

I have known grief and sorrow, physical pain and financial hardship. Life has not been easy.

When we go through a difficult and painful season in life we have a choice. We can blame God and turn away from Him, or we can allow the suffering and uncertainty and fear to draw us closer to God. If there is going to be a separation, it will not be God that creates the distance. He will not be the one inclined to pull away.

C.S. Lewis said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains." If you are walking through a hard and painful season, pray that God would speak to you and use the difficulty to draw you closer to Him.

Dan Fox, Wilton, he is the Director of Music at Hope.