“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?“
Where to begin?
All our lives have changed rapidly and dramatically since California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a State of Emergency on March 12th. As we enter the third week of self-isolation, I am happy to report that most of you are doing well, staying home, staying healthy, and handling the COVID-19 pandemic calmly.
For those who have experienced illness, work layoffs, and other challenges, we are keeping you in our prayers every day. To the extent that we are able, we suffer with you.
We now know these difficult conditions will continue through at least the end of April, and likely longer. This will test our physical, mental, and emotional health as our relative isolation continues, and especially as we all become more aware of — and personally close to — the suffering caused by this pandemic.
That may sound grim, but it is the truth. As a minister, it is my job to help each of us grow spiritually stronger, especially in times like this since the word “spirituality”, rightly used, encompasses the totality of our physical, mental, and emotional dimensions as humans. Our spiritual lives are our whole lives, our embodied lives, and not our esoteric, invisible selves on some alternate plane of existence. In fact, we know that when we are spiritually stronger, we are more physically and emotionally resilient in the face of suffering. Well, building spiritual strength requires a reckoning with the truth.
So, yes, the challenge is great. But there are other truths that are giving me hope during this time of suffering. Today I’ll share one of those with you, and here it is:
We have been empowered by grace to remain connected with God despite our circumstances.
You may recognize the scripture quoted at the top from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Here’s a longer portion:
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
'For your sake we are being killed all day long;we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)
It’s important to know that in the middle of this, Paul is quoting Psalm 44, which is a song of lament, not triumph. Sometimes this passage and others from Chapter 8 are used in a ways that flippantly dismiss or even condemn people’s frustrations, fears, or doubts in the midst of suffering. How many times have you heard someone glibly say, “All things work for the good of those who believe…”?
Too many times, I suspect.
But, “For your sake we are being killed all day long” is not a gleeful chant on the march toward martyrdom, it is an accusation leveled by the people of God toward God. It is a desperate plea for help: “Why are you allowing us to be killed?” We can see this clearly from the very next line, which is hard to read as anything but anger: “Rouse yourself, why do you sleep, Oh Lord?” This is a Psalm of fear, frustration, and not a little doubt, in the face of real suffering.
Why does Paul quote a lament in this letter? Because, in Romans Chapter 8, Paul is making his great case for followers of Christ to live by the Spirit of God (v12-13). A few sentences later, he states it this way, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words” (v26).
Did you catch that?
Even when we are suffering, even when we are fearful, angry, frustrated, or doubting because God appears to be “asleep”, we can be assured that the Spirit of God dwells in us, and even steps in to pray and lament for us when we are too weak to do so.
So, God is always with us, particularly in our times of weakness. The suffering of Christ reveals that God is the God who suffers with us.
Paul knows suffering first-hand, of course. He is not some religious television personality duping gullible followers. No! He has suffered tremendously, including blindness, a ship-wreck, and being stoned nearly to death for his faith. He knows from experience that when he is weakest, God’s love is strongest in him (2 For 12:8-10).
This is why, without a hint of superiority or condemnation, Paul can boldly claim that all present sufferings are “nothing” compared to the glory of God (v18), and that for those who trust God, “All things work together for good” (v28), and not even death, “can separate us from the love of God in Christ” (v38-39).
Now allow me to be so bold as to encourage you today: in the weeks and months to come, do not deny your fears, your frustrations, or even your doubts. To pretend is not faith; it is a performative religion that Paul would rightly call a “work of the flesh.” Instead, turn toward the Spirit of God who dwells within you to discover that God is there, expressing the strength that you lack.
In doing so, you affirm that nothing can separate you from the love of God, and that love will sustain you through all things.
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Click here to read The Weakness of Our Faith, Part Two
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Jason Coker is the Lead Pastor of the Oceanside Sanctuary.