Nothing Can Separate You from God

It is too easy to feel alone in a world filled with billions of people. It is all too common. In the middle of struggle, we look around and feel alone. We feel nobody ‘has our back’ or that nobody understands what we are going through. We even wonder if God has forgotten us.

Brethren, we know that everything works for good with those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.  And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to this?  If God is for us, who is against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?  Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?  It is God who justifies; who is to condemn?  It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, “For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 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 8.28-39

These words from Saint Paul are at the same time a challenge for us to live up to the standards that God has set, and to remember that no matter what we may think, we are not alone. If nothing “else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God,” why do we feel it?

In a great book, Beginning to Pray, Metropolitan Anthony Bloom begins his lesson about prayer helping us understand the ‘feeling’ of God’s absence. He is in fact not absent, but we feel it, nonetheless. I endorse this book even for the ‘most experienced’ Christian.

Understanding that we feel the absence of God because we are not noticing Him is the first step in not feeling alone. Just as we ignore the room full of people, we ignore God standing right in front of us. He is even closer to us. He is inside of us. He is part of us, and we are part of Him.

In our baptism and chrismation, we are united to God. Saint Paul understood this to be an authentic union, not just imagery. Since we are physically united to God, we must continually remind ourselves we are not alone. Union with God should be a comfort to us in struggle.

One of the many blessings of surrounding ourselves with icons of Christ is that we are constantly reminded of His presence. In our car, in our office, in our bedroom, God is always with us. Of course, being reminded of His presence can also stress us out.

It is not only in struggle when God is with us. He is with us in our sin too. It is often why so many choose not to have icons surrounding them. The ‘guilt’ of sin is diminished if we aren’t thinking about God being with us.

It should make you think. If we don’t want God to be near us when we sin so we can sin with less guilt, but we do want Him there when we ‘think’ we need Him so we can feel His comforting presence, what is the reason for the confusion? Either we want Him near or not.

That’s right. The devil is the one who wants us to ‘chase’ God away or to forget He is there in the first place. It is the devil who wants us to thing that God forgot about us. It is the devil who sows the seeds of lies in our hearts. The devil wants to fill the void instead of God.

The devil has been at war with God long before we were created in our mother’s womb, even long before our ancestors were created. The devil knows God is always there. The devil knows we can’t be separated from God. The devil knows God always has our back.

The only thing the devil can do is to trick us into loneliness, to trick us into believing we have no hope. We have hope. We have One who loves us and will never walk away, no matter what we think, say or do. People might walk away, but God will never walk away. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.