By: Erlinda Mejia-Olson
ROMANS 8:35~ "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
ROMANS 8:35~ "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
Oswald Chambers' once said, "If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart."; and I couldn't agree more.
God does not keep a man immune from trouble—saved or unsaved, God holds no 'apple of the eye'. He says, "I will be with him in trouble." (Hebrews 13:5; Isaiah 41:10; John 16:33). It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of a man's life, not one of them can separate him from his relationship to God. We are "more than conquerors in all these things.", says in Romans 8:36-38. Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by our strength, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ. Rightly or wrongly, we are where we are, exactly in the condition we are in. I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.
"Shall tribulation ...?" Tribulation is never a noble thing; but let tribulation be what it may—exhausting, galling, fatiguing, it is not able to separate us from the love of God. Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves us.
"Shall anguish ...?" Can God's love hold when everything says 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 be more than conquerors, even while we are being starved?
Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God's character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it—the love of God in Christ Jesus. So shall it be then, "Out of the wreck I rise" every time.
Things don't always work according to the way we want them to be. While planning is a good move but when we do make plans let us try not to iron out the creases too perfectly. Let us be mindful to give ourselves a room for error because there is no such thing as perfect—we all do make mistakes. Sometimes, it is better not to plan at all but rather work with our present circumstances, and trust God that things will work out fine according to His plan. God's way is the best way!
""For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts."" (Isaiah 55:8-9)
