Who Shall Separate Us From The Love Of God? (Part II - Suffering)

By Odon Bulamba (summary only)

Romans 8:35 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

What is love? You can walk in many different ways but you will not find the exact definition for love. Maybe everything comes together by saying that God is love. This means that God sacrificed His life for us so that we might gain. Love is not easy to define because it is the biggest thing in the Bible. Love is eternal and when something is eternal it is not easy to define because it goes on.

Is suffering able to separate us from God’s love? When you suffer do you keep on loving God? When you have serious problems do you still think about God? There are many people, who say that God doesn’t answer their prayers, they think that God is not with them. Sometimes if we don’t have money we think God doesn’t love us because He has given more money to others. Sometimes if we don’t have enough intelligence we think God doesn’t love us because some people are more clever than us. In the church of God there are Christians who say, “how come he knows the Bible and I don’t?” This attitude can create suffering in their hearts. It causes jealousy and makes them compare, and when this happens it makes them think that God doesn’t love them.

Jesus Christ was born into a poor family and suffered a lot. When Jesus was thirty years old He didn’t even have a house, He used to sleep like a bird, imagine what kind of suffering that is. Imagine sleeping one night at Steve’s place, the day after that at Shari’s place and after that at Angela’s place. Jesus lived like this, He didn’t live like this because He was poor, but He wanted to teach us that everything is possible in Christian life and that Christians can go through all kinds of suffering. However, today when we don’t have shoes we say that we suffer, and sometimes through these small sufferings people can reject the Gospel.

Jesus suffered on the cross but didn’t lament, all He said was God forgive them, but when we go through suffering we complain a lot and make sure that everybody knows about it. 1 Peter 5:7 says to cast all your anxieties onto God because He loves you, however when we suffer this verse doesn’t exist for us. Isn’t it true that God gives? God said ask and you shall receive, so why do we still keep on crying when we suffer? Why do you say that your faith is too small and that God will not listen to you?

We all know Job who lost many riches, but did Job suffer? Yes. So who has suffered like Job among us? To lose all your children and riches on the same day, then to suffer from leprosy is not easy, but in all of this did God forget about him? No, God’s eyes were always on him and Job knew that his suffering would have an end because everything has its time. What we live today won’t be there tomorrow, and it means that suffering will pass but God’s love never will. Whatever you go through God’s love is always there. Don’t become separated from God’s love brothers and sisters because of suffering, don’t tell yourself that God is not your friend because he hasn’t answered your prayers, never say this because you might get lost. After a long time of suffering God visited Job and blessed him, everything he lost Job received a double portion, this suffering turned into joy. Do we think that our sufferings will change? When you are sick for 2 days do you think that you will be healed? Can suffering separate you from God’s love?

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