When You Can't Go On

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?   As it is written,

  ‘For Your sake we are being killed all the day long;
 we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 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.”—Romans 8:35-39

There are times in life when we feel overwhelmed, overburdened, and hopeless. We want to throw in the towel, give up, give in, quit, and go on to something else. We want to simply stop trying, to not think, to not worry about what comes around the bend. These are the times…the most critical times—when we must turn to God and to Him alone. We cannot turn to man, no matter how much we want to, because man is impotent in the face of such dark despair. We can only turn to the one who truly has life and death in His hands, and that is God.

God is the only one who can give us the strength necessary to face overwhelming odds. He is the only one who is completely compassionate, loving, and merciful. He is the only one who can truly help us in our time of need.

God has said in His word that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. It would seem strange to think about the love of Christ during the moment of our greatest crisis, but that is exactly what Paul the apostle (the writer of this verse) wanted us to know—that no matter what happens, no matter what terror may come, no matter what tragedy or terror lay ahead, our hope remains unshakeable. When you can’t go on, know that God’s love is there for you as a lifeline, reminding us that hope lives in the person of His Son—that He took our sufferings and sins upon Himself. He is the one who gave His life to end suffering. He is the “man of sorrows” who by giving Himself at Calvary showed God’s judgment on sin, and His reconciliation to the world.

Our God is not a god who is far off. No, He is the only God and He is one who is intensely personal and intensely real. And He has set forth within His word the truths we need when the storm comes, when the ground shakes, and when the earth seemingly gives way. We cling to the fact that He loves us. And why does that matter? It means that we are not alone. It means that He goes with us and He battles for us. We may not understand the extent to which He helps and we may not understand in this life why He allows trials and tragedies to occur, but we trust in Him nonetheless. This is where faith comes in. We trust in Him when life doesn’t make sense. It’s not blind faith, nor is it blind obedience. It is faith operating in accordance with His person. His person shows that He is love itself. And as love itself, the essence of love, we know that He cares.

Such talk seems like foolishness to the world, but to the saint of God it is the very oxygen needed on the heights of the highest mountains where it is difficult to breathe. We need God and we need to trust in Him, confidently standing on the promise that when we want to give up, He is there with us, upholding us with His marvelous right hand. We stand on the promise that nothing life throws at us will be able to separate us from the love by which Christ died and enabled us to have hope and the right perspective in the very midst of our terrors and trials. We know that even though we are looked upon as sheep doomed to die, we are more than conquerors. Because in our weakness we are strong! God’s everlasting and sustaining grace is enabled to emanate through us in a very real and tangible way. Our hearts may sorrow, but hope…hope conquered the grave. We have a living hope! And nothing we face will ever be able to take away what we have in Him—

“death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 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.”

Don’t give in, beloved! Know that He loves you. He sees your tears and He will one day wipe them away. Don’t give up, beloved! Because He will sustain you if you cast yourself on Him. Preach to yourself God’s promises and know that our hope is not dead, but alive! He is alive! And life is worth living because He lives! Amen.