02/08/2008
Romans 8:35 (HCSB)
35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
Romans 8:38 - 39 (HCSB)
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
One time when I was about 12, I went to a Boy Scout Camp in Arkansas. We were there two weeks. We did all the usual Boy Scout events. We had swimming, archery, woodcarving, and so on. Each day there was an assembly at sundown. And afterwards, we would head back to our camps. It seemed that our camp was a half mile from the assembly grounds. I’m sure it wasn’t that far, but in the dark, it was a treacherous journey.
One evening, a few of us boys were heading back to camp. For some reason, none of us had flashlights. The moon was bright that night, but the thick canopy of oak trees made the ground incredibly dark. We couldn’t see our hands in front of us. We could stay on the path by feeling the edges marked by brush.
At one point, there was a gully crossing the path. As we crossed the gully, the edges of the path disappeared and we couldn’t find where the path continued on the other side. To make matters worse, we couldn’t even find the path we had just come from. We wandered down the gully to where it opened to the river. We could see the entire river and far bank in the brisk moon-light, but as we moved back up the gully, we were again in stark darkness.
We were in the gully for at least 10 minutes groping for a way out when eventually, someone came along with a flashlight and we found our way out of the gully.
It is a frightening thing to find yourself in such a situation – to be separated from what is safe and secure. As Christians, God has promised that we will never find ourselves separated from His presence. As children, we may get separated from our parents in a crowded store, or as scouts, find ourselves fumbling in the dark, but as children of God, we are never out of His presence.
Think about it, God created us to be with Him. And even when we stumbled in sin, he made a way for us to return to His presence, and once we are restored, He will never let anything separate us again.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2008 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
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