Everyone one of us loves to be loved. Everyone wants to be the object of someone else’s affection. It is great to have people in our lives that just adore us. Nothing is more comforting than your mom’s affection. It is so comforting to see her sacrifice for you. Often times we think of a mother’s love for her child as the greatest love. It is the most secure. You have heard the phrase, “that is a face that only a mother could love.” Hopefully, no one told that to you. J Nonetheless, a mother’s love is great.
Another great love that we often long for is the love between a husband and wife. Marital love is often considered the greatest love.
While we should find great comfort and joy in being the object of our mother’s affection, we should much more enjoy being the object of God’s love for us. It is His love that should be the most desirable to us. Most people consider it to be so. Most people want to be the object of God’s love. What could be better than to be the beloved of the God of heaven? Nothing!
It is a dreadful thought to know that our mother’s love for us could stop. It is a dreadful thought to know that our spouse’s love could come to an end. But much worse is the thought that God’s love could come to and end.
At times in our lives, we could come to question the love of God. That period of questioning could no doubt be the scariest question that we could ever ask. It could be that you have had those questions. It could be that such things have taken place in your life that you have come to question whether or not God still loves you.
Job was a man of God. He feared God. He had certainly come to enjoy the love of God. He saw the great blessing of God. But, some things happened in his life that caused him to question God’s love for him. In Job 9, we see hopelessness in Job’s words as he gives reasons why he knows that God’s love for him has ended. He is sure that God will not listen to him. He is sure that God is just out to get him. He is sure that God will treat him just the same as a wicked man. He is sure that God will consider him guilty in spite of his true integrity.
It could be that we experience some devastating difficulties in our lives that would cause us to question God’s love for us. The apostle Paul wrote an important message to the Romans. In that letter, he instructed them to always remain confident that nothing could ever cause God’s love for them (God’s children) to end.
That dreadful question that I mentioned earlier is the very question that Paul asks rhetorically in Romans 8.35. Paul asks the question and then gives 3 answers to that question. In verses 35-39, Paul works hard to give us the assurance of God’s love for us. If we are to be people that hold an unflinching confidence in God’s love for us, then we must understand Paul’s words – God’s words to us. We must understand Paul’s answer. We must remember His answer. We must meditate on his answer.
In times of difficulty, we are often not able to think as clearly as we would under normal circumstances. The pain or the pressure is a distraction to us. What gets us through those difficulties are those truths that have become engrained into the very fabric of our thinking. Those truths that we have dwelled on so much that we think them ‘automatically’ will be those truths that will give us strength to trust God no matter what the difficulty faces us. As you come to understand Paul’s answers, dwell on them. Take them in. They may very well be your life preserver.
Let’s first take a look at Paul’s question. He asks, “Who [what] will separate us from the love of Christ.”
That is the scary question. Paul has been proving to the Romans that God’s strength is infinite. He has no match. He asks the question in verse 31, “If God is for us, who is against us?” He is still proving that God’s promises to us, can never be lost, or defeated, or destroyed, or changed. When He says He loves us, it is a promise that we can count on.
We sometimes see people’s love for others come to an end. In other words, we see examples of ‘weak’ love. The word “separate” in Paul’s question is the very same word used by Jesus in Matthew 19.6 where He says, “What God has put together, let no man separate.” Jesus is speaking of marriage. He says that the love between a husband and wife should never come to an end, and yet we see it all the time.
It is no wonder that people would sometimes question whether or not God’s love for them would end.
Well, what kind of things could separate us from God’s love? Or, what can come in and tear us apart from our experience of God’s love?
Paul lists some things that people would tend to think are evidence of having lost that incredible position of being the object of God’s love.
If we experience tribulation, is that proof that God does not love us? We might feel like we are outside the limits of God’s love if we are in tribulation. Times of tribulation often divide a man from a woman, or a parent from a child.
And so we, in tribulation, may ask, where God? Does He still love me?
Tribulation refers to some kind pressure that causes something to burst. Like a grape that is squeezed right out of it’s skin. Perhaps you have felt that way – you have been squeezed, and the pressure is nearly unbearable. Is God absent?
If we experience distress is that proof that God does not love us? Distress refers to being hemmed in. It is similar to tribulation. We may sometime feel as though God has put us in a little box. He has put me in a difficult situation that I just can’t get out of. He puts you in a box by yourself. You feel alone. He puts you in a box of sickness, and you just can’t get out of it. Have you felt that way? Maybe you do right now. Maybe you feel alone, powerless to escape to freedom. Where is the love of God?
Famine was a common experience in Paul’s day. When we are without food today, we have some food FedEx-ed in from another country or part of the country. They didn’t have those opportunities then. Famine was a real experience. They people were no doubt tempted to ask, “Where is God’s love?”
Nakedness, in NT times referred to being stripped of your possessions (which might include your clothes) because of a thief or persecutor. Many missionaries have written about their experiences of having everything taken from them, because they preached the gospel.
Peril refers to ‘danger.’ Paul talked about the dangers he faced. He says in 2 Corinthians 11.26, “I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”
Paul new what it meant to be facing danger at every turn. He may have asked himself, “Where is God? Does he still love me?”
Paul mentioned the ‘sword’ as well. He was here referred to murder which is indicated by the Greek word for ‘sword’ which refers to a dagger used by an attacker. Would a God Who loves you, allow you to be murdered?
These are legitimate questions. Do the trials and tribulations that we face indicate that we are no longer objects of the love of God? Job answered “yes.” He was sure that God did not love Him, because He was allowing Job to go through much pain and suffering. Paul gives a different answer. Let’s look at it together.
Answer 1: These trials are the lot of all of God’s people. What did you expect?
Paul quotes from Psalm 44. The psalmist says, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
The psalmist was discouraged. He had faced many, many difficulties. He was wondering why God would allow all of these things to happen to him. Paul quotes the passage to make this point: You are suffering tribulation? What did you expect? That is normal. All God’s people suffer for His sake.
It is as if He were asking, “Do you really think that being a child of God means you will never have difficulty?” All God’s people will suffer. If you have not suffered, you will.
Paul does incidentally tell us that our suffering is for the God’s sake.
Answer 2: No! These trials do not indicate a separation from God’s love for us. On the contrary, His love for Calvary means that we are right now and always will be super-conquering!
Paul says that even in “these things” – tribulation, peril, etc. – we are still super-conquering. While it may look on the outside that we have been defeated, destroyed, let go, it is not true. In fact, we not only endure, we not only have the victory, but we are way beyond that. We hyper-conquer, we super-conquer! How is it that we super-conquer? We do it through Christ’s work for us on the cross.
Paul refers to Christ’s work for us on the cross with the phrase, “through Him who loved us.” He is looking back to a specific demonstration of His love. That time is obviously, His sacrifice on the cross. He proved His love for us once and for all. The benefits of His death still sustain us.
Why would God allow us to suffer? We suffer for His sake. You see, God allows the enemy to give it his best shot. God is most glorified when the enemy is most defeated. God may allow Satan’s most fiery dart to hit the target only to be swallowed up without even a trace of smoke to show for it. And then, we not only survive, we rejoice as we enjoy the love of God, which comforts us eternally!
Answer 3: I, Paul, am a living testimony of God love.
Paul says, “I have seen terrible things come my way, and I have not been separated from God’s love. Now, I am convinced!”
Paul lists a variety of things – death and life, fallen angels, things happening now and thing that will happen in the future, any kind of power, anything as high as you can go to look and as low as you can look, anything in all of God’s creation – as says they are not able to separate us from the experience of God’s love.
Paul already stated that “all things work together for good” for His children. We live in the sphere of God’s love. We can never get out. As far as we go, we will still be in the sphere of His love. There is no way that we can even poke our head out too far, extending beyond God’s love. Everything we see and experience is according to and proving God’s love for us.
Paul makes a final statement in verse 39 that is important. It is the basis for his 3 part answer to the dreadful question, “what can come in and tear us apart from our experience of God’s love?” He says that nothing can separate us from the love of God. He calls us to remember that Christ (vv.35, 37) is the eternal God. And then He says that God’s love for us (love of God) is “in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is an incredible statement! He refers to what we call the believer’s union with Christ.
Paul often reminds his readers that they are united to Christ. It is a spiritual and legal union. We stand condemned before God, our Righteous Judge. But, we freed from the curse of the Law because we are united to Christ. When Our Judge sees us, He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He sees the perfect law-keeping record of Jesus Christ! Praise God for our union with Christ! It is because of this union that we have eternal life.
It is because of this real, spiritual union with Christ that God loves us. God loves us as He does His own Son – because we are in fact united to His Son! Christ saw suffering in His life on earth, but the Father still loved Him. We too will see suffering in this life on earth, but we can be sure that God still loves us. Paul summed it up well in verse 17 when he explained that if we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him!
Don’t let today pass without meditating on God’s love for you and then praising Him for His unspeakable gift!
