Romans 8:31-39 is Pauls’s conclusion to this chapter. That’s a lot of verses to review in one post, however they are integral to each other, so I will try to be thorough yet brief.
Romans 8:31 states: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
I’m not sure what “these things” is referring to. It must mean the section before where we saw that God foreknew us, predestined us, justifies us and is glorifying or sanctifying us. But what shall we say to these things? Yes, what is there to say? There is to say that if all of these things are true, then God is for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us? Whew. Those are hard words to ingest tonight. If my God is for me, who can be against me? No one. I need these words tonight.
God did not spare His Son. He gave Him up for all of us. Where does that fit with the doctrine of election again? I don’t know. But it says right there that God “gave him up for us all”. But moving on, My God, who was willing to do that, will he not also with him graciously give us all things? What does He mean by all things? He certainly can’t possibly mean all material things, and if He did, that would not be the shallow God that I would want to follow. Psalm 37:4 states: 4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Are these two verses related? Does God see and know the desires of my heart? And are the desires of my heart in collaboration with His desire and will for my life? I desire to not live the rest of my life alone, if God would grant that gift to me again. I desire to provide a father for my children. But what if that is not God’s desire for my life? Am I going to be ok/be settled with that? I think so. I think I can honestly say that I would be settled with that. As we sang this morning “Your Grace is Enough.” at church, I had to seriously ask myself, “Is His grace enough for me? Will I allow His grace to be enough for me?” I want to be the type of person; I want to mature into the kind of believer who can firmly say that His grace is enough for me.
The next two verses are as follows:
I like to read Lawyer novels, such as the ones by John Grisham. And I have spent time in a court room having to testify. These two verses essentially bring us “into the court room”. Satan, or enemies, or even our own conscious may try to bring charges against us as God’s elect. But they will not succeed, because God has justified us. He has made us right. It’s a once and forever thing, a permanent part of salvation.There is no condemnation, based on the sacrifice of Jesus who died and who was raised and who now sits at the right hand of God, interceding on our behalf. What more, what possibly more could we ask for than that? Nothing. Nothing at all.
Here are the next three verses:
Things in this life will come. There will be tribulation. Distress. Persecution. Famine. Nakedness. Danger. Sword. And other such things that threaten the life, or health of a believer. We are assured by the quote of Psalm 44:22 in these verses, that death may even come (For your sake we are being killed all the day long). But there is a promise here. A promise that these things can never separate us from the love of Christ. Never. Christ still loves us. Christ still loves me in the face of hard things. And in all of these things, we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us. We are victorious through Christ who loves us enough to lead us to be victorious, despite hardship.
And here’s the conclusion to Paul’s beautiful words in Chapter 8. Read them carefully. None of these things will separate us from His love. None of them. Not even death. Not even life on this earth. Not things now, nor unseen things that are yet to come. Not frightening dates and disturbing nightmares. Nothing will be able to separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus.
Your earnest prayers are truly, truly coveted tonight and appreciated.