"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31
Say to what things? Suffering. Sin. We are reminded in this chapter that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf. What is the logical conclusion to this? That if God is for us, no one can be against us.
Sometimes I get led astray into thinking of God as passive, unconcerned, and frankly weak. But the statement is clear. If God is for me, what have I to fear? There are so many things out there that draw our eyes away from God, lead us into fear and doubt even though He is bigger than all of these things.
And He's not tame. Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love, writes: "God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with Himself because the answer to religious complacency isn't working harder at a list of dos and don'ts. It's falling in love with God." What on earth does that have to do with the idea that God is not tame?
Well, for one thing, we've turned our love affair with the Creator of the universe into a messy divorce with a passive husband. When we make God tame, when we put Him in a box, when we don't stand in awe of Him (I mean reverent, fall flat on my face in amazement awe), we cease to see the grandeur of an intimate relationship with Him. That doesn't mean that every day is going to be full of roses, romantic dinners, and moonlit walks by the sea (if you like those things. if not, pick your own idea of gushing romance). You and I are going to have our hard days where we have to fight tooth and nail for a relationship we're not even sure we care about anymore.
But, friends, don't you see? The God of the universe, the Creator of everything that ever was and ever will be, the Holy One. He reached out of eternity past and gave us His Son so we could live in eternity future with Him. He didn't have to do that. When you consider that we can't even see to the end of the universe with our best telescopes and He measures it in the span of His hand, you must get the sense that we are very small. He does. not. have. to. be. invested. But He is. So deeply invested in fact that His heart hurts when He sees people dying without Him. His heart hurts when we stray from Him. The very heart of the King of kings longs for relationship with you. And me. And He doesn't have to care. He chose us. He wants us. He longs for us. I wish I could come up with a stronger word. There is not a strong enough word to convey the depth of God's desire for you. For me.
And that picture of love... that isn't something passive or tame. That's ferocious, passionate, knock down drag out, do or die love. Dying on the cross was not the act of someone who didn't give a rip or even someone who loves by the pathetic, wimpy definition of love we so carefully cling to today. That was being utterly and completely spent in an effort to show just how much you and I matter to Him. If God is for us, who can be against us? No one. As we will see in this passage, nothing will EVER take us away from our God. Ever. Period. End of discussion.
So when we struggle, when we have to fight for that time with God, we need to remember that He is fighting for us too. And by the way, we do not have to serve a defeated enemy. God's already won. And we already have that power working within us the moment we put our faith into Jesus Christ. We will be tempted. We will fail. But God is for us. We do not have to be victims of the enemy.
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