Romans 8:35-39
35 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? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”[o]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[p] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 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 10:11-12
11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”[e] 12 Jew and Gentile[f] are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him.
Psalms 135:5-7
5
I know the greatness of the Lord—
that our Lord is greater than any other god.
6
The Lord does whatever pleases him
throughout all heaven and earth,
and on the seas and in their depths.
7
He causes the clouds to rise over the whole earth.
He sends the lightning with the rain
and releases the wind from his storehouses.
Daniel 4:34b-35
His rule is everlasting,
and his kingdom is eternal.
35
All the people of the earth
are nothing compared to him.
He does as he pleases
among the angels of heaven
and among the people of the earth.
No one can stop him or say to him,
‘What do you mean by doing these things?’
Proverbs 16:9
We can make our plans,
but the Lord determines our steps.
God is the all-powerful Creator and king of the Universe, he has created the world we live in and he has the power to do anything he desires. Not only is God all-powerful but he is our basis for good and he was willing to sacrifice part of himself (Jesus) as the atoning sacrifice for humanity. God has given us free will which is why often throughout scripture he gives us commands that we can choose to act on, but this free will is limited. We can choose what we say, do, and think to an extent but many things in our lives are outside of our control. God is ultimately powerful enough to even override our free will but he almost always chooses not to. Everything in this world is either something He has allowed or willed and he is able to use the world’s circumstances to execute His sovereign plan for humanity. God calls on us to trust Him with everything out of our control and to act accordingly with what is in our control. Paul tells us to cast our worries upon God in Philippians 4:6-7, “6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” We can’t control anything outside of the present moment and in Matthew 6:33-34 Jesus tells us to only worry about the things on our plate that day, “33 Seek the Kingdom of God[e] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
God’s Displayed Power
God created this universe, the planets, and the life in it. Genesis 1 and John 1 talk about God creating the Universe. In Daniel 9:24-26 God predicted the coming atonement to the exact year (for more reading on this check out the chapter on this in Dennis McCallum’s Discovering God). Micah 5:2 predicted Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead (Luke 7:11-17). We also saw Jesus predicted his coming death and resurrection (Luke 9:22).
Through these displays of His power and so many more God exemplified His all-knowing and all-powerful nature. In Matthew 6:26 Jesus made the point if god takes care of the birds how much more will he take care of you. Paul explained in Ephesians 2:10 that we are God’s masterpiece, so as the masterpiece of the powerful, good and loving creator how much more can we trust in the Lord to provide for us.
So Why Do We Suffer?
If God is all-powerful and all-loving why does he allow us to suffer? Well there are a couple levels to this question. On one level the suffering that we face here is the consequence of our own sin. When someone lies to their friends it will probably damage the trust that they have in that relationship, or if someone chooses to live a promiscuous lifestyle they may contract an STD or an unwanted pregnancy. The consequences we face for our actions can bring suffering for other people as well, we see this when STDs are passed down to the next generation or when someone is hurt by our lies. When an innocent person is murdered the family and friends of that person are greatly impacted and that person doesn’t get to live out their natural life.
We are still facing the consequences today for the choice that Adam and Eve made millennia ago to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This decision Adam and Eve made to reject God’s one rule is called “the fall” and it marks the beginning of human sin. Since the fall, mankind has lived with a sinful nature, impending death, sickness, natural disasters, and pain. God is still sovereignly in control of these things but He at points chooses to allow us to experience these Earthly foes. Sometimes he uses these venues of suffering for a bigger purpose. Often the purpose he uses our suffering for is to humble us and break us of our pride.
2 Corinthians is a great book where Paul details his suffering and how God used his pain to show him the need he has for God to work in his life. In 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 Paul talks about the thorn in his flesh and how he begged God to take it away from him. Each time he begged for this to be taken away, but God told Paul “My grace is sufficient for you, My power works best in weakness.” This suffering lead Paul to the conclusion that when he was weak that he was truly strong. Paul was saying that when he sees himself as weak and chooses to rely on God’s strength that he becomes actually strong because the Lord becomes his strength.
Paul explains this idea in depth in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 “7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.[b] This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.”
Fear the Lord
Throughout scripture God steadily gives the command to “fear the Lord.” This isn’t to say that God is not trustworthy, but God is saying that above all his appraisal and participation in your life is to be valued the highest. People’s fears are directly connected to what they value, someone who is afraid of rejection deeply values the appraisal of those whom they don’t want to be rejected by. When we care more about what other people, ourselves, or Satan thinks about us then we are acting against the Lord’s command to Fear Him. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 “ 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” This means that the appraisal that we receive from ourselves and from other people is far less valuable than God’s appraisal of our lives. When it comes to God’s appraisal of our lives there are two aspects to consider. First and foremost as believers God has paid for our sins and has made us perfect in His eyes in regards to the law. Paul tells us that “There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) In Phillipians 3:8-12 Paul said “8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.[c] For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” Paul counted everything else as a pile of shit when compared with the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.
Secondly God has a record of our works and he judges our individual actions as good or evil. He will reward us for the good that we have done in heaven and we will be shown the ways that we have acted against the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:10 Paul said “ 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Conrad Hilario puts it this way in his book Searching For Wisdom: Finding the Father in the Proverbs “ But God promises he will return one day to settle accounts. Luckily, no one who has forged a relationship with God through Christ will stand under his judgment. Yet, we will still stand before him to explain what we did with our lives. He will reward those who were faithful. And those who squandered their lives will experience loss.”
Thirdly; this affects how we should view Satan’s involvement in our lives. Many people fear Satan and his Demons involvement in their lives more than they value God’s involvement. God created Satan and has merely allowed Satan to become the prince over this world. Everything in Satan’s control is something God has either created or permitted which means that God is ultimately still sovereign over Satan’s dominion. God is much more powerful than Satan and anything He does or says takes precedence over Satan’s authority. Peter said in 1 Peter 5:8 “8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” We should be aware of Satan’s schemes and lies, but we should never fear him more than we value the Lord’s input in our lives. We should recognize that Satan’s power is limited and God’s is not. The scriptural emphasis is to fear and revere the Lord, not to live in perpetual fear of Satan. Our adversary is not ultimately gonna win, and God is the loving father that we serve with our lives.
Application
Often life seems like we are the director of the film called “Our life”, but in reality we are merely extras in the film called “This Universe”, and God is our director. God has cast us in the role of ourselves and we can choose to listen to his divine direction or we can make our own performance, but either way God’s film is getting made. God can do his work with or without us, Yet so often he chooses to use us in order to display his loving and empowering nature. When we choose to listen to his direction for our lives often we end up finding that we lived a joyful and meaningful life no matter how short it may be.
You can’t solve all your problems and set an immovable course towards paradise for yourself, but when you put your trust in the Lord and follow His direction he might empower you to impact eternity and he will guide your boat to eternal paradise with Him. The takeaway is don’t focus on the things outside of your control, yes you will have to process through the pain and anguish in this life, but don’t rush it. God will make it clear if he wants you to do something. He might make it clear through His word, other Christian friends, unignorable coincidences, or divine revelation; and if you turn to God and ask for His direction you can trust that if God sees the need to communicate His will to you that He will. Our role in life is to act in the present moment on the steps God has made clear to us. With everything out of our control we are called to give our anxieties over to the Lord and trust in His sovereign plan for our lives and the World as a whole.
Christians are given the choice to rest in the peace of Christ knowing that we are not alone. The all-powerful creator of the universe loves us and He has sovereign control of the World that we live in. He is unchanging and no one can stop His plan to redeem humanity. He solved humanity’s biggest problem on the cross, and He is constantly working in our lives. We can’t work our way out of His grace or His love. So let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts and experience the freedom of your life in God’s unchanging and immutable love!
Collosians 3:15-16
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Clear choices we have according to God’s word
WIll we we accept God’s free gift of forgiveness?
God has provided the payment for our sins through His son’s death on the cross, He has made this forgiveness readily available to us and has given us strong evidence for the reality of this gift. For more understanding on this read James Rochford’s cumulative case for christianity. It’s up to you to choose to accept this free gift for yourself!
Will we choose to listen or act on God’s direction?
As believers God has given us His word and His body to offer direction into our lives. Sometimes he may speak directly into our lives through a teaching, a wise word from a friend, or divine revelation. Will we choose to listen when God gives us direction into our lives?
Will we trust Him with the things outside our control?
God is the creator and Sovereign king of the universe. He is intimately involved in our lives and as believers he has adopted us as His own sons and daughters. People constantly stress about the circumstances of their lives and the things that are outside of their control .Will we choose to accept the peace of Christ and trust in our loving Lord to provide for us in the areas outside of our control?
Will we count our blessings and express gratitude to the Lord?
God has given us life, forgiveness, and every good thing that we enjoy. Will we choose to count our blessings and express our gratitude to our father who has given us our very soul?
Cited Sources
1 Hilario, Conrad. Searching For Wisdom: Finding the Father in the Proverbs. New Paradigm Publishing, 2018.
2 http://www.evidenceunseen.com/world-religions/a-cumulative-case-for-christianity/
Frankly Put 
Leave a comment