What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Ro 8:31). Tyndale House Publishers.
This week, I want to take a slow and meaningful walk through what might be my favorite passage of Scripture. I can guarantee you that Romans 8 and 1 Kings 18 are my two favorite chapters, but there is something uniquely special about Romans 8:31-39. We will begin with just verse 31 today.
In what won’t be the final time this week, I will be calling your attention to a song. The idea in the second half of this verse was made real to me in the bridge of the 2010 “Our God” from Chris Tomlin. This bridge is simple and repeats these thoughts, but it works. This idea is remarkably simple because God is remarkably powerful.
This verse is not implying that nothing will ever stand against us. The better way to look at this is that with God, we are the Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks, and those who stand against us are a middle school football team that has had one practice together. Yes, technically, there is something or someone standing against us. God just guarantees us an overwhelming victory. Despite the simplicity of this, we can still fall into the trap of doubt.
Most of us could make a career of making a mountain out of a mole hill. We allow something like paying a medical bill or losing a job become something that derails our time and devotion to the Creator—our Creator. We panic. We strive. We increase our stress in the name of solving a temporary problem. Why exactly would God allow this to be the thing that defeats us? Death cannot defeat the Risen Messiah and we proclaim His name and accept is atoning blood just to roll over at an unexpected expense. We make the molehill sized problem into our personal Everest when every mountain is a molehill to God. The solution is not more control and planning. It is more trust.
The trust that we seek is not the same trust we have for other cars on the freeway. It is much more like the trust a newborn baby has for its mother. We can barely grasp a sliver of what God knows and all we can do is rely on Him. We can memorize scripture and study theology for eighty years. After all of that, we can barely grasp a sliver of what God knows and all we can do is rely on Him. That studying is not for nothing. It helps us understand the will of God. It helps us be continually shaped by the Holy Spirit. What we will truly learn is that all we can do is rely on Him. We gain independence from our parents and Sunday school teachers. There is a shift to having a personal relationship with the God who is our creator, sustainer, and redeemer. The goal is not, and will never be, independence from God. The goal is to get better at personally relying on Him. When we rely on God, who can ever be against us?
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