Dear People of God,

For those of us still able to remember what day of the week it is, “Thank God it’s Friday!” I’m sure that as we have gone through these days together, one day is not unlike another. But, our God who is always the same is filling these “so same” days with His life, love, peace, joy, and hope by assuring us that He is always with us.

And that seems like the perfect segue into our final devotion for this week from Romans 8, looking at verses 31-39…

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“If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31

The autobiography of Pastor Oswald Hoffman, the second speaker of “The Lutheran Hour”, carries as its title a phrase that he apparently used often, especially at the conclusion of sermons: “What more is there to say but ‘Amen’.” It’s a thought that might bring a smile to the face of those who listen to pastors and their preaching, especially because that may be the word they’re looking forward most to hearing in the sermon, knowing that it’s over.

But there’s another way of looking at this phrase. When we’ve heard the blessed Good News of what God has done and is still doing for us in and through our Lord Jesus, it should make even the most dyed-in-the-wool Lutheran want to get up and shout “Amen!”

Such is the message that Paul brings as he concludes this marvelous eighth chapter of his letter to the Romans, and it is his “Amen” to what he has been proclaiming. Having announced to us the Good News of what it means to be in Christ; to live in, with, and through His Spirit; to know the glory that is yet to come for us; Paul now gives us the beautiful reminder, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” He stacks up everything that stands against us as we live in this world–our sin, the death we must undergo, the evil one who tempts us, even every form of human suffering that we can imagine–and Paul says, “And against it all, God stands with you and you will not fall.”

Yet Paul does not say that because we know that God stands with us as our Shield and Protector, that somehow we are immune from or somehow exempt from suffering.  Quite the contrary.  He quotes Psalm 44:22, “For Your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” Not too pleasant of a prospect to think about, is it? Nor does it engender much confidence in God’s love when you first look at it. It begs the question, “If God is for us”, then why is it that “for [His] sake we are being killed all the day long”?

The answer to this question is unfortunately hidden from us as we undergo our moments of suffering. At those times, we may share in Jesus’ own words from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Yet, because we feel pain, undergo affliction, or sense that we have been abandoned, does not mean that God is not with us. In truth, it is in precisely these moments where our God is present with His love, protection, and care; binding Himself to us because we are His. We may not fully sense it, because our present pain blinds us, but it doesn’t make this truth untrue.

This is the hope that we hang our hope on when all seems hopeless. Our trust is completely in the God who loves us and from whose love nothing in all of creation can separate us. This is our hope for both time and eternity, that when all is said and done, all we will need is love–God’s Love, first and perfectly displayed and given to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. Confidently believing this, we trust God’s promise, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

And what more is there to say to that but, “Amen!”

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Again, I hope that these devotional thoughts have been a blessing to you. And in a way, they are sort of a “warm-up” for what we will have the opportunity to experience together next week as we go through the days of Holy Week.

More information on our Holy Week observances, as well as ways to keep these holy days while we are in our homes, will be coming in another email today. I also hope that I will have the opportunity to share another video devotion moment with you later today as well. You can look for it on our Facebook Page:
www.facebook.com/trinityelcmountrainier.

God’s blessings be with you all, and “May the Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent one from another.”

Peace in Jesus,
+Pastor