“For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:11-14.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Romans 8:35a.

As we shall soon see, the answer to that is nothing. Yet you feel separated. Who did that?

At what point did you walk away? Was it a death in the family, divorce, accident, debt, sickness, or unanswered prayer?

Or did you fall into some deep sin that interfered with your walk with Christ and you are too ashamed to return to Him.

Perhaps the sin is too enjoyable to return from.

“All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” 1 Peter 1:24-25.

Where will all this be when you stand before the Lord?

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.

Christ never left you and He calls you to lay down your burden now and He says to you now.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.

Do not allow pride, fear or shame keep you apart from Christ a moment longer, even now bow your head and lay your burdens before Him.

It is impossible for you to have done anything so awful that you cannot repent and turn to God. The humble and contrite heart cannot exhaust the grace of God.

However, though the following verse is harsh, the warning is necessary.

“He who is often reproved, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Proverbs 29:1.

This verse applies to unsaved persons who continually reject the gospel. Nevertheless it can also apply to Christians who will not give up their grievous sin.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Romans 8:35.

Christ is the most powerful Being in all of creation, you can walk away from Him in your heart, but you cannot be separated from Him.

His Holy Spirit is within the believer closer than their next breath. Why not embrace Him rather than rebelling as so many do?

The dictionary defines tribulation as, grievous trouble, severe trial or suffering. It is often used to denote the troubles that come upon Christians and it certainly fits this context.

Romans 8:35 above shows that we should expect some of the trials shown here and that they do not come because God hates us.

“And we know 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.

The origins of the word distress indicate narrow straits, cornered, boxed in and the anguish it produces. It is translated anguish in the American Standard Version 1901 edition. With the severe political distress going on in this country today it is likely that we are or have been in distress at one time or another.

Persecution is relatively new in the United States, but with the slow drift toward atheistic government things are already getting worse.

People have lost their jobs for sharing Christ at work, schools are God free, Christians go to jail for protesting the sacred cows of a liberal government.

Sometimes these incidents remind one of movies of the Nazi mock trials of those supposedly involved in the attempt to kill Hitler; they were prosecuted then hung with piano wire.

North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Viet Nam, Pakistan, and India are just a few of the countries which vigorously persecute Christians, including torture, death and imprisonment.

And Islam, working through its Jihadist armies of ISIS, Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood and others have by raping, enslaving and murder have all but eradicated Christians from the middle east.

As for famine, do not be complacent; this country is not immune to a famine it would only take a few months.

Most of our modern famines are caused by socialist/communist government meddling, most of the famines in Africa are man made and have cost the lives of millions of innocent people.

There is another type of famine that is not noticed today though.

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it.” Amos 8:11-12.

The United States is starving to death in the midst of plenty.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4b.

Nakedness, does not necessarily mean stark naked, but rather ill-clothed or in rags – destitution.

This and the rest of Romans 8:35b-37 might better be understood when quoted from the J. B. Phillips version.

“Can lack of clothes and food [famine], danger to life and limb, the threat of force of arms? Indeed some of us know the truth of that ancient text: For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these things we win an overwhelming victory through Him who has proved His love for us.” Romans 8:35b-37.

“For I am persuaded [become absolutely convinced] that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39.

Perhaps you have held the hand of a loved one who is dying, no matter how tightly you held their hand you could not keep their spirit from leaving the body, like smoke rising from a dying ember, they are gone.

This is the comfort for both you and the dying, Christ never releases their hand. The Holy Spirit within them wraps His arms around them and carries them into the presence of the Lord.

Death does not separate, in fact life seems more precarious, for it is here that we abandon Him, yet this passage in Romans 8:38-39 tells us that He does not abandon us.

Do you believe this? If so, you must live like you believe it.

Either God is very real and truthful or He is not real and this is a lie, you must choose, but do not stand in the middle. Until you make a choice you stand for nothing.

The next phrase in Romans 8:38, “nor angels nor principalities nor powers”, has to refer to the fallen angels, their strongholds and their human dupes.

The good angels far exceed us, so great is their power and strength, yet they are the servants of the Most High God and any notion to separate us would never occur to them, in fact they call themselves fellow servants with us.

“Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’” Revelation 22:8-9.

Where are you? Even the now has no hold on you, “nor things present nor things to come”, God is in control, take your present burden and lay it at His feet in prayer.

When you pray, listen, God may be telling you to forsake the destructive habit that got you into trouble to begin with.

Do not deceive yourself, if you are a spendthrift, you will soon be in debt again, an unwed pregnant woman does not become unpregnant, but God will walk her through it.

Prayers may not be answered the way you like it, but they will be answered. When you learn that Jesus is with you always, you will trust Him for the things to come.

How far is, “nor height nor depth”, we need look no further than the Psalms.

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me’, even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.” Psalm 139:7-12.

To make sure we understand, the apostle ends verse 39 with the following.

“…nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39.

God created all things; therefore God is above and in control of all things.

Everything named in this passage in Romans 8 between verses 35-39 begins with “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” verse 35 and ends with “…nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”, verse 39.

It is within these arms that the lonely, the fearful and the dying may take refuge.

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…” Deuteronomy 33:27a.

“For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5b.

To the Lonely, the Fearful, and the Dying, Part 2 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 9-13-15, updated on 8-4-19.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.