Devotion for Today "Who Shall Separate?" Romans 8:35-39

Note:  this was the devotional I sent out dated 13 September 2001- which was the first day I could get a devotional out that week after the 9-11 tragedy.  We were in Germany at the time, and I was corresponding with a distant cousin who was at that time

An Army Lt. Col stationed at the Pentagon.

 

Devotion for Today "Who Shall Separate?" Romans 8:35-39

Yesterday I received an email from a distant cousin, Mr. David Lamp,

of Falls Church, Virginia, relating to his email mailing list that he

was all right.  He worked at the Pentagon in the building right next

to the one that was destroyed by the hijacked aircraft.  In his narrow

brush with death, he recognized that not all were as fortunate as he.

Since this tragedy started on Tuesday, I have fought back tears (not

always very successfully) for those whose interviewed accounts by the

media revealed that they had loved ones in the World Trade Towers and

could not find them.  They fear the worst as they go from hospital to

hospital and not finding them.  Several on the hijacked aircraft made

calls to their loved ones on the ground telling them that they loved

them, and would not see them again.  The horror of this is unimaginable.

But the sense of separation and anxiety of not knowing what has happened

to a family member is a feeling too awful to be put into words.

As I read the Scriptures, there is some comfort in that while we may

lose many people and things of this world, there is One whom we will

never lose no matter what may try to dislocate us.  The Apostle Paul

tells us in Romans 8:35-39- "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 your sake

we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved

us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor

principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor

height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to 

separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Many are pouring over lists of people this week wondering if they will

be separated by this tragedy.  This may even have happened to you.  If

it has, I'll not want to minimize the pain that you feel.  But as the

shock wears away and the hurt and the grief come in overwhelming waves,

God is still there, and He promises never to be separated from you.  He

knows what you are feeling, and as His Son, Jesus Christ, allowed 

Himself to be hijacked and sent to the Cross, and separated from the 

Father's love, He emerged from the tomb alive that we may never know 

that kind of separation from God again.

In some small way, may you all be comforted and blessed by the promises

of God's Word.

Jeff Russell

Devotion for Today

Friendship Baptist Church,

Langenselbold, Germany

 

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

Church website:   http://25621.lifewaylink.com
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