Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
As a pastor, I've been asked more times than I can count over the years, how can a loving God let bad things happen? Maybe you've asked yourself that question, or maybe you're wrestling through that right now. I'll admit that I've wrestled through that question so many times over the years, and I still do to this day.
A Personal Journey
I remember years ago sitting in my childhood house when my dad asked me and my siblings to sit down and talk, and he was sharing that he had been going to the doctor and he had cancer and he wasn't really sure how it was going to pan out. The doctors had a plan, but they really couldn't say because it had progressed fairly far. By the grace of God, it went into remission, and he was doing really well.
That was until a couple months ago when I got a text from him while I was out at dinner with friends, and he just said, "Hey, can we talk?" I remember that sinking feeling, knowing exactly what it was about. Your ears get red hot and your vision starts to go blurry and your heart starts racing and everything just feels heavy and the darkness starts to consume you.
I called him on the way home after that dinner, and sure enough, he shared that the cancer was back and it wasn't looking good. I just remember getting off that phone call, sitting in the driveway afterwards and just crying out to God, how could you do this? How could you let this happen? Don't you love me anymore?
God's Reminder
It was when I cried that out that God reminded me of the very Verse of the Day that we're reading today.
It comes from Romans chapter 8, verse 38. "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love."
This verse spoke so powerfully to me in a moment that I just felt like nothing mattered, that God was so distant, that His love had just left my life. But as I sat there and really reflected on this verse, that Paul, a man who had gone through the worst of the worst, was convinced that nothing could separate him from God's love. Why would I, sitting there that day, feel any differently?
I started to notice that the way that I was talking to God was shifting, even in that moment, going from God, how could you do this? to God, thank you so much for the time that we've had. God, thank you that I have a relationship with my dad. Thank you that we're able to talk through it and support each other through this. Thank you for the ways that you're working in his life.
Because I remember him being on that phone, and he just spoke with so much faith that I had never seen in his life before—how he was pressing into God, how he was spending time with Him. He was choosing to trust God and abide in His love, and that is so powerful.
Peace in the Trials
I want to say to you, if you're going through a difficult place or if you have been in a difficult place, or maybe one day you will be in a difficult place, know that God's love hasn't left your life. One of the verses that always encourages me in moments like that is John chapter 16, verse 33. Jesus says that in this world we will have tribulation. We're going to have trials, but that He wants to give us peace because He's overcome this world.
Jesus loves you enough that He overcame this world. He faced death. He took the penalty for our sin so that we would never be separated from the love of God. There's going to be hard times, but I want you to go forward with the same confidence that Paul has, the same confidence that the Lord has given me, that nothing in this life or beyond could ever separate us from the love of God.
