Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? —Romans 8:35
God does not keep His child immune from
trouble; He promises, “I will be with him in trouble . . .” (Psalm 91:15).
It doesn’t matter how real or intense the adversities may be; nothing can ever
separate him from his relationship to God. “In all these things we are
more than conquerors . . .” (Romans 8:37).
Paul was not referring here to imaginary things, but to things that are
dangerously real. And he said we are “super-victors” in the midst of them, not
because of our own ingenuity, nor because of our courage, but because none of
them affects our essential relationship with God in Jesus Christ. I feel sorry
for the Christian who doesn’t have something in the circumstances of his life
that he wishes were not there.
“Shall tribulation . . . ?” Tribulation is
never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be— whether
exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness— it is not able to
“separate us from the love of Christ.” Never allow tribulations or the “cares
of this world” to separate you from remembering that God loves you (Matthew 13:22).
“Shall . . . distress . . . ?” Can God’s love
continue to hold fast, even when everyone and everything around us seems to be
saying that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?
“Shall . . . famine . . . ?” Can we not only
believe in the love of God but also be “more than conquerors,” even while we
are being starved?
Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver, having deceived
even Paul, or else some extraordinary thing happens to someone who holds on to
the love of God when the odds are totally against him. Logic is silenced in the
face of each of these things which come against him. Only one thing can account
for it— the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Out of the wreck I
rise” every time.
(Taken from Oswald Chambers – “My Utmost
for His Highest” May 19)