A couple of weeks ago, my husband read the verses from Romans 8:31-34 at the beginning of our church service.
These words, in particular, captured me: “If God is for us, who can be against us,” and also that Jesus intercedes for us.
My husband has no idea yet about the profound impact those words had for me, (and perhaps others).
Some of our family members have been going through a lot, and I have been consumed with worry and sorrow. I have prayed and prayed, have gotten discouraged, prayed some more. I have felt like a failure as a mother, felt extreme sorrow, have had trouble sleeping, have had super high blood pressures, and have felt completely helpless. When our babies are hurting, we are also hurting. When they make poor life decisions, we might wonder where we went wrong. Perhaps this is normal for most parents. One thing I do know, watching our adult children navigate life, has given me a much clearer understanding of God our Father and his love for us. I admit that I have imagined him with a headful of gray hair, arms crossed, shaking his head going, “Tsk, tsk tsk.” But he is not like our earthly fathers. He is a patient, loving God, who, as Bryon shared last week, is so in love with us that he continues to pursue us and woo us to come to him. He never stops. He never, ever gives up on us.
In that moment that Horace read those words, “If God is for us, who can be against us,” I realized that I was living in such a way that I didn’t truly believe them. We worry because we aren’t in control. We worry because we are afraid. We lose sleep because we aren’t truly trusting God to do what he promises. We feel defeated because we have forgotten, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
All of us here have been believers for many years, and we probably all know lots of scriptures that we’ve read throughout our lives. Our brains know the words, but sometimes it takes a little while for our hearts to catch up. That’s how these verses were for me. I knew the words, but they have never quite hit me in such a profound way. I found myself being asked by the holy spirit, “Do you believe that I am for you? Do you believe that I will carry this load for you, if only you would give it to me? Do you believe that I love you? Do you believe that I love your children, even more than you do?”
It was all I could do to keep from weeping in that moment. I realized that I do believe those words when it applies to others, but that I was not walking in the truth of those words as they applied to me, especially these last few weeks. To believe that means that in spite of the worry and fear (which are natural human emotions in these circumstances), we can trust that Jesus is interceding for us, and that we can rest in the promise of His love, as we wait for God to do what he does best, which is always better than anything we could do.
I remembered something Tammy said to me a long time ago. I don’t remember what was going on at the time, but after praying for me, she said that I may be feeling like I’m hanging from a cliff, about to fall, hanging on with all of my strength, but God’s hand was right beneath me, ready to catch me. Over the years, I’ve contemplated, “If that’s true, then it’s okay to let go of that cliff.” We can fall, but we will not fall far, because, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Watch that Finding Nemo scene, if possible. If you do a search on YouTube for “Finding Nemo it’s time to let go scene,” several options will pop up
Marlin and Dory are trapped inside the whale. Dory interprets the whale’s instructions to fall to the back of the whale’s throat, but Nemo doesn’t believe that anything good will come of this. He believes the whale just wants to eat them, and asks Dory, “How do you know nothing bad will happen?” Dory responds, “I don’t!” So Nemo reluctantly lets go and they both fall to the back of the whale’s throat, and then the whale spurts them out through his water spout into the Sydney Harbor. Where they have traveled far to get to to find Nemo’s son.
Let’s go back and read some verses, because context is important:
Romans 8:18-39 (NLT)
The Future Glory
18Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
26And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. 28And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love
31What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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In closing, I would like to challenge each of us to ask ourselves what areas in our lives are a struggle for us. There is always something we need to yield to God, as we are still living and breathing in the Now and Not Yet, still walking around in this fallible body. A few things for me, are worry and fear, as I shared, and also my addiction to food, which I admit I’ve often used as a source of comfort, instead of turning to Jesus as my source of comfort. Other areas are to remember to yield to God’s truths instead of trying to fix everything, and continuing to develop healthy boundaries. As we prepare to have communion, let us contemplate Jesus as our true lover, as the one who fights for us, as the one who will catch us when we stop clinging so hard to that cliff, because, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
As Dory said, in Finding Nemo, “It’s time to let go now.”