SUFFERING CANNOT SEPARATE US FROM GOD’S LOVE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 06, 2022.

SUBJECT: SUFFERING CANNOT SEPARATE US FROM GOD’S LOVE! 

Memory verse: "Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8 vs 35.)

READ: Job 3 vs 23 - 26:

3:23: Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?

3:24: For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings pour out like water.

3:25: For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.

3:26: I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.

INTIMATION: 

Nothing of this world can separate the Christian from the love of God. Trials and grief, whether temporary or enduring, do not destroy the real purpose of life. The physical sufferings that are launched against him by the forces of evil is an effort to separate him from the love of God. But they are not enough to separate the Christian from the love of God. 

Life is not given merely for happiness and personal fulfillment but for us to serve and honor God. The worth and meaning of life is not based on what we feel but on the one reality no one can take away—God’s love for us. Don’t assume that because God truly loves you, He will always prevent suffering. The opposite may be true. God’s love cannot be measured or limited by how great or how little we may suffer.

In Romans 8 vs 38 - 39, the apostle Paul teaches us that nothing can separate us from God’s love. And even in the spiritual realm, Satan has no subjective power over the Christian. Satan cannot of his will snatch the Christian from the love of God. He may go about in the world as a roaring lion (First Peter 5 vs 8), but his power of deception is not effective in reference to those who know and love the truth. He does not have the power to subject any Christian against his will who has given himself to God. 

The Bible, in the aforementioned  erases, contain one of the most comforting promises in all Scripture. Believers have always had to face hardships in many forms. These sometimes cause them to fear that they have been abandoned by Christ. But the apostle Paul exclaims that it is impossible to be separated from Christ. His death for us is proof of His unconquerable love. Nothing can separate us from Christ’s presence. God tells us how great His love is so that we will feel totally secure in Him. If we believe these overwhelming assurances, we will not be afraid. 

Though the righteous might have to endure the greatest of sufferings, they must realize that God is working out His purpose for the existence of the world. In His majesty He has everything in control. God will always call on our faith in the fact that He is in control. Though Satan is introduced as an adversary in the life of the saint, the saint must never forget that it is God who is controlling our existence and the existence of the universe. Since nothing that exists is outside the control of God, then God must be trusted to care for that which is in existence. 

God works in “all things”—not just isolated incidents—for our good. This does not mean that all that happens to us is good. Evil is prevalent in our fallen world, but God is able to turn every circumstance around for our long-range good. Note that God is not working to make us happy but to fulfill His purpose. Note also that this promise is not for everybody. It can be claimed only by those who love God and are called by Him, that is, those whom the Holy Spirit convinces to receive Christ. 

In the passage we read today, Job felt that God was treating him as an enemy when, in fact, God was his friend and thought highly of him (Job 1 vs 8; 2 vs 3). In his difficulty, Job pointed at the wrong person. It was Satan, not God, who was his enemy. Job has been careful not to worship material possessions but to worship God alone. Here he was overwhelmed by calamities that mocked his caution, and he complained about trials that came despite his right living. All the principles by which he had lived were crumbling, and Job began to lose his perspective.

Because we stress ultimate causes, most people believe that both good and evil come from God, they also thought we are responsible for our own destinies. But the evil power loose in this world accounts for much of the suffering we experience. God has profound love for His people. No matter what happens to us, no matter where we are, we can never be separated from God’s love. Suffering should not drive us away from God but help us to identify with Him and allow His love to heal us.

Prayer: Abba Father, I am persuaded that Your thoughts for me is of good and of evil. Though the devil throws his darts at me, I know You will turn everything for my longe-range good. Stemming from Your love for me, You gave Your only Son to die for my sins, and I know there is nothing You not give and do for me to live for You. Endue me with the spirit of love, that I may love You and others as You love me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!