The bottom line for Paul

"For I am convinced 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."   Roman 8.38-39

This is the bottom line for the apostle Paul.  Nothing -
                 no government as strong as Rome
                 no military dictator
                 no wealthy landowner (CEO)
                 no heavenly power
                 no created being
                 no tragedy or disease
                 no bad behavior on our part
                 not even the stuff we haven't thought of yet

Nothing can snatch us out of the loving grip of God our creator and father of our Lord.  Nothing.

This is not easy to believe on every day of the week.  When our husbands are in a war zone.  When our children are dodging drug dealers to get into and out of school.  When our business goes bankrupt.  When our mammogram comes back suspicious.  When our children choose to embrace death dealing habits.

Now note that Paul does not say that there aren't moments when we are uncertain; moments when we are tempted to throw God over, rage at the cruelty of this world, dismiss God as powerless or uninterested in our lives.  You and I know that there are lots of days like that. 

In the powerful darkness of this sinful world, when we lose our way or hope is dimmed, we are sorely tempted to say it is all a sham and whatever I thought I believed, I do not.  For too many, it doesn't take a crisis, it only takes boredom and spiritual laziness to cause them to walk away from Jesus. 

Paul, a man who had been imprisoned and beaten by the government and now faced death, certainly understood that there are lots of pressures in this world that could entice us to let go of God.

God, however, will never let go of us.  God's love is more powerful than anything that this broken world can dish out.
God's love is more powerful than anything we might do individually. 

God's love is faithful, steadfast, always searching for the lost sheep, opening his hand to hold us.

So when the darkness is deepest, and prayer has been silenced within us, Paul writes, "...the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit interceded for the saints according to the will of God." 8.26-7

"If God is for us, who can be against us?"  v. 31b

That is a wonderful condensing of the Good News:  If God is for us, who can be against us?

So, along with Paul and countless others throughout history and around the world, I too am convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  That truth has kept me afloat during too many of life's storms; may it sustain you as well.

Peace.