Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?…No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8: 35, 37-39 (NLT)
Nearly thirty years ago, while watching a television show entitled “Review of the Year” in 1994 in his home in Northern Ireland, Robin Mark, a Christian singer, songwriter and worship leader was driven into a deep sense of despair.
It was the year of the Rwandan civil war tragedies and genocide claiming over one million lives, a time when the first cease-fires were declared in Northern Ireland, and a year where so many other things in the world were out of control.
It all caused him to wonder if God was there in those days of great trial, famine, darkness and fighting. If God saw what was going on, or even cared at all if He did.
Then Robin Mark felt God’s answer within his spirit, assuring him that God was there. It was a message of hope for the day and for the days to come.
But it had the added call that those days would require His followers to stand up with God, as Elijah, Moses, David and others had done, for right and good against wrong and evil in the world around them.
To go forth as Christ’s voices in the fields and deserts they faced, sharing Christ’s love and truth, and the ultimate assurance of eternal hope and salvation when Christ comes again.
Through it all, God would be there with him and others. Always.
It’s God’s same message of encouragement and hope for us today, as the Apostle Paul reminds us—that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love and care—whether we are up or down, ahead or behind, on the top or on the bottom.
A message to remember and embrace with each step we take—God’s love for us is there.
Because those days of despair and turmoil—by different names and faces—are here with us again, as we look out at the world around us. And no doubt they will be there in the days to come.
Days, everywhere we look, of great trial, of want and need, hate, darkness and sword against sword throughout the world.
Days also in our personal journeys which are marked with struggles and mountains to climb, decisions to make, anxiety, uncertainty, heartaches to bear, failures to reach beyond, all causing within each of us at times, a sense of lostness and hopelessness.
But then we remember the God-inspired words of the Apostle Paul—”nothing can ever separate us from God’s love…that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Comfort and assurance are ours remembering God is always there with us. Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
In the midst of whatever we face—He is with us.
And so we press on, with Him.
Forever and ever.
In His Name–Scott
In between church services a day after watching that TV show, Robin Mark wrote the song “Days of Elijah,” a reminder of the hope we always have with God’s presence with us to face the turmoil all around.
Watch the video below—powerful!
