Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For 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 8:35-39 NIV
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After telling His disciples that He was leaving them to go be with the Father, Jesus said, "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." They must have wondered how leaving them would give them peace, especially if they were going to experience trouble in this world. He had always been there with them to handle trouble when it came, but now He was telling them He was leaving them to handle it on their own. Furthermore, He instructed them not to worry, because He had overcome the world. They did not understand what His going away meant, or that His death and resurrection would overcome the world. It must have all been very confusing to them.
It's confusing to us today, even though we know the outcome, unlike the disciples did at the time. I've been struggling with how God allows His children to suffer from the troubles of this world, when Jesus has overcome the world. How can one of His children have peace, when their life is filled with so much pain and hardship? Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and to give life to the full, but some of His disciples live their lives in immense suffering, without peace - at least external peace.
Reading Lamentations over the past few days, which is about the Babylonian captivity, I can see that the writer, who is believed to be Jeremiah the prophet, witnessed God's people living in horrific suffering, and it effected Him deeply. He was in anguish over the people's suffering, and the destruction of the City of God. He himself suffered persecution by his own people for proclaiming the word of God to them. Yet despite the terrible suffering he saw and experienced, he remained faithful in his belief that God is good and loving.
It can be difficult to reconcile that God allows His chosen people to suffer, with the fact that He loves them. But as the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, suffering, or any powers or authorities, including evil ones, will never separate us from the love of God. As Jesus said, we will have trouble in this world, but God and His love will always be with us through it. That is God's grace that He gives us to endure through suffering.
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