God is For Me

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

If you’ve read more than one of my blogs, you have discovered that I’m a broken record.  My theme is the grace of God. Over and over I tell of the joy I have found in the knowledge of that grace.  But, in the nitty-gritty of everyday life, when the chips are down, does grace have any practical meaning?  When our relationships, jobs, lives are falling apart, what does the concept of biblical grace have to do with anything?

I’ve pondered that this week.  For years I’ve had an old, yellowed newspaper cartoon hanging on my refrigerator.  It depicts a poor, unsuspecting soul walking along the street, while above him, dangling from a window in a tall building, is a piano, ready to fall; and from heaven, God, seated at his heavenly computer, is looking down with his finger hovering over the “Smite” button.  I’ve left it up there because it is the perfect representation of how so many of us view God. 

This has been a difficult week for me, and in the process I have discovered anew that grace relates to everything. 

I am so grateful I no longer have to fear that God is smiting me with the circumstances in my life.  Scripture tells me I can expect troubles in this world, and I shouldn’t think that is strange, because I am still in this world and not the next.  I can take heart, however, because Jesus has overcome this world specifically because I couldn’t.

I am so grateful to know that nothing can separate me from God’s love.  Nothing. He is not mad at me. I do not have to earn his favor before he will hear my prayer. My life is hidden in Christ, and God is quite pleased with him. That approval extends to me.

I am so grateful that I can rest securely in the knowledge that God is in control. My circumstances are not chaos, they are being directed by the loving hands of the creator and sustainer of the universe; and, because of that, I don’t have to struggle to figure out what to do, fearing I will guess wrong.  I can simply acknowledge I am not able to figure things out, and trust that he will guide me.

I am so grateful I can be certain that God is on my side and he will never leave me or forsake me; even when I don’t handle my troubles perfectly, with a smile and a song.  Jesus flawlessly handled the most difficult of all circumstances and credits that to me, because he knows how frail I am.

I am so grateful that, when life is painful, I can have full assurance that I will never be alone.  On the cross, when Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he suffered the unbearable separation from his father, so that I would never have to.

When the world comes crashing down around me, God’s grace alone promises me that God is for me.