For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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. Romans 8:38-39
This is one of the most meaningful truths found in the Bible. Paul confidently declares that nothing can separate him from God’s love. He is secure in God’s care for him. Nothing can snatch him away. Paul was a person who knew hardship. In 2 Corinthians 11 we have a complete list of them in Paul’s own words:
Five times he received from the Jews forty lashes minus one (verse 24).
Three times beaten with rods (verse 25).
Pelted with stones (verse 25).
Three times shipwrecked (verse 25).
One night and a day spent in the open sea (verse 25).
In danger from rivers, from bandits, from fellow Jews, and from Gentiles (verse 26).
In danger in the country, in the city, and at sea (verse 26).
In danger from false believers (verse 26).
He has labored without sleep (verse 27).
He has been hungry and thirsty, cold and naked (verse 27).
This list of trouble occurs in a larger passage with the theme of boasting. Paul lists off all the ways he has suffered so that he can demonstrate how well God has cared for him.
Shipwrecks, beating, and hunger do not at first strike us as ways God would care for someone. They aren’t, unless you look at it like Paul does. 2 Corinthians 11:30 says, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” Paul understands that power comes through weakness. “Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
For Christ’s sake, he is willing to experience weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties because when he is weak, he is strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).
Now that we’ve gained a bit of insight into Paul’s perspective, we need to go back to Romans 8. The list of forces that threaten to separate us from God comes at the end of a passage that describes Christians as justified conquerors. He uses very clear, bold words to say things like this:
If God is for us, who can be against us? (verse 31)
Who will bring any charges against those God has chosen? It is God who justifies (verse 33).
In all these things (the trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword mentioned in verse 35) we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (verse 37).
Paul is making the point that God’s love completely sustains our lives. It regulates our minds and calibrates our hearts. God’s love holds us steady. It informs us on who to believe, giving us the standard against which to measure truth.
When we have in place our secure faith along with a conviction of the truth, we live in the safest place in the world.
I’ve never been shipwrecked, beaten or pelted with stones, or left for dead on the open sea. That, to me would be the ultimate test of my trust in God. I’m grateful for the heroes of the Bible, like Paul, who have endured the worst and then lived to tell about it. His stories help us keep our perspective.
If Paul can meet terrifying danger and real, intentional threats on his life with the assurance that none of it changes the levels of love God pours out on him, then I hope that I can meet the anxieties and sufferings in my life with the same confidence.
God is fighting your battle for you.
He holds you in the palm of his hand.
His love for you is high and long and wide and deep (Ephesians 3:18), and nothing in this world has the power to remove you from it.
This passage from Romans 8 is one of the texts suggested for meditation during this second week of Lent. Use of this passage during Lent tells me that God wants us to delight in our frailties, in our weaknesses, and in our limitations. Only when we face them and accept them do we throw ourselves in full reliance on his love.
It takes courage, but keep confessing sin. Turn your weaknesses and temptations over to him. He will shine through them giving you increasing power, strength, and a calm faith in his deep love for you.
Prayer
The collect from the Common Book of Prayer designated for the second Sunday of Lent:
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to keep ourselves. Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities that may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
