The Comfort of God’s Love – Romans 8

A text – Romans 8:26-39

8:26 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.
8:27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
8:28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
8:26 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.firstborn within a large family.
8:30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
8:31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
8:32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?
8:33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
8:34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
8:39 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.

A reflection:

These verses from Romans 8 are among the most comforting verses in all of scripture for believers. Especially verse 26:

8:26 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.

and verses 38-39:

8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
8:39 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.

When do we need comforting, as believers? When we are weary and beset, when we have even forgotten how to pray, when all we can do is sigh or moan. Then we know that the Holy Spirit is doing the same thing on our behalf, so that the whole Triune God understands our pain and distress.

We also need comforting when we feel alone, separated from God, either by forces we cannot control or by our own stupid behavior.  Then we can just know that God loves us so much that nothing ever created can separate us from God’s all-encompassing, never-ending love. 

God is for us. God wants us to live, to laugh, to rest, and to succeed in the mission we have been called to – to co-create with God a trustworthy world for our neighbors and ourselves. And if God is for us, Paul says, we are more than conquerors through Jesus, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace. Luther wrote, “Life is full of misery. Think upon the Prince of Peace.” That’s all we have to do, and then let God’s peace and love overwhelm us and wrap us up like a baby, or be our hammock, upon which we can lie down in the cool breeze. Nothing can separate us from this God of love.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for loving us so much that we can never be separated from you. Thank you for the comfort Paul’s words can bring to us every day. Help us to remember these words and rely on them in our darkest times. Help us to bring this same comfort to our neighbors.  Amen.