26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.
Reflection
This passage is one that every Christian should have circled, starred, and highlighted in their Bibles. It’s one of the most important promises that God makes to us: that when we are overwhelmed by our circumstances to the point where we don’t know what to do, where we don’t even know what to pray – we can trust that the Spirit is at work behind the scenes praying for us, working things out for good. And when we feel abandoned, when we feel at our most unlovable, Christ’s cross remains as proof that nothing can separate us from the One who made us: “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.”
In other words, in our confusion, God is there. In our despair, God is there. In every circumstance of life, God is there. Because NOTHING can ever separate us from God’s love.
If you’ve ever wondered where God is in the face of tragedy…
If you’ve ever imagined that something you did could never be forgiven…
If you’ve ever been down to the point where you didn’t even know which way was up…
…remember Romans 8.
Remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
by Joe Monahan
For Pondering & Prayer
Do you have a friend or family member struggling with something difficult? Maybe today is the day to reach out to them. Keep this passage in the back of your mind, not as a way to convince them not to worry, but to let them know that God is with them, even in their worry!
Prayer: Thank you for loving us with a love so fierce that you never let us go. Help me to rest in that love always – in the midst of every trial, every difficulty, every failure and doubt – help me to remember Christ’s love for me. Amen.
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