I love it when I read a bible verse and suddenly see it with new eyes. A truth I never recognized before is now staring at me in black and white. Especially when you have heard the verse a million times and could recite it with no problem. It is often when you get to that point with a verse—regurgitating it easily without really thinking of what it’s saying—that God suddenly whips the blindfold off your eyes and you’re left going “Ohhhhh! Wow. God, you are cool.”
Tell me what you see when you read this verse. Or what you’ve unconsciously begun to think over the years in church where you’ve heard messages on it.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:35,38-39
I have always focused on the fact that through any difficult circumstance or seemingly impossible feat, God is still there loving me. Nothing can tear us away from His never-ending love. Even those gut-wrenching, impossibly disheartening circumstances where all seems lost, God knows exactly where to find us and how to love us.
But this time I saw the world “angel” in the verse. Wait, why would an angel try to separate me from God? Angel’s are good, right? Except for that one who rebelled…and the others that followed him. But the ones that stayed, those are the ultimate dream team of angels. Maybe it was just thrown in there for good measure since it’s the antithesis of demon. Then I noticed another set of words equally opposed. Death and life. Yes, often we focus on the fact that death cannot separate me from God. In fact, as a Christ follower, it would bring me to a new life with him in Heaven. But LIFE. That is the ‘jump out’ word. I’ve never pondered the significance of LIFE in this verse and that it cannot divide me from the love of God. The hustle and bustle. The busyness and doing and being and working and living and everything that comes with just existing on this little rock called Earth. The mundane and monotony. Not just huge, scary, intimidating problems, but just….LIFE.
When I get so distracted by what’s going on during my day that I neglect pulling out my Bible and hearing from Him…he still loves me.
When new and exciting things happen and I forget to continuously thank the One who provided them…he still loves me.
When I’m selfish and spend too much of my time on what I want to do instead of what He wants me to do with it…he still loves me.
It is powerful to think how God can tear apart any hardship, danger, or persecution and still shower us with His love, but isn’t it also amazing to think when my life seems anything but interesting, that love is still there and just as powerful? He’s not just sitting on the sidelines waiting for some disaster so he can swoop in and show off (though he totally could). He’s standing beside me every single moment of every single day. Loving me as much in my everyday LIFE as he would in my afflictions.
And when the busyness of that everyday LIFE starts to crowd in and form a wedge in between me and my Father, He’s ready to bust through with his eternal love and wrap me up in it. Never forgetting me for one instant. That’s the Father I serve.
Ohhhhh! Wow. God, you are cool.