Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Although our faith grasps hold of the great and mighty promises in the Bible—that believers will enjoy peace, protection, health, and provision—we still go through trouble in life. Satan sends trouble to us. Paul lists several varieties of it in our verse for today.

When we go through these troubles, sometimes a perplexity of mind arises along with the original trouble. If the Bible makes all these promises to us, and we are not experiencing what was promised, then something must be wrong. The love that Christ has for us must have been lost. We must have been separated from it. Logic demands it. To succeed in troubling us, Satan must have separated us from the love of Christ.

The Bible does not allow for this conclusion. The Bible says that none of our trouble “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Romans 8:39). Despite the disjunction between the promises of the Bible and our experience, the love of Christ stands firm. God’s will demands a different pattern of logic.

Faith transcends circumstances by believing that a higher logic is at work. The mind of God, with thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9), has its own plans and purposes. He has determined that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose,” (Romans 8:28).

If there is a perceived disjunction between the promises and our experience, then there must be a higher reason for it that is in harmony with the love of Christ: the maturing of our faith and the display of God’s glory.

Jesus loves us. Despite our trouble, His love stands firm. There isn’t anything or anyone that can snatch us from the hand of our loving shepherd (John 10:25-28).

By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International