Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

This passage is very interesting to me because Paul asks: “who” shall separate us and then he proceeds to list “things”. While we know that Satan is the “who” behind the “separation tactics” and we can usually recognize when he is using someone to cause us difficulty or tempt us to abandon our faith, we are not as alert in our perception of the “things” or circumstances which can ensnare us and lead to our separation from Christ the lover of our souls.

Paul lists some of the things: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, etc.  Most of us do not contend with these “things” on a grand scale every day but for those who do, it is easy to understand how the fight for survival would take center stage. On the face of it these “things” may not be readily identified as “trials of faith” which can either result in spiritual growth or decline. If as believers, we could train ourselves to identify these kinds of episodes in our lives for what they really are at their onset, and take God at his word that he is with us in the midst of them, our journey becomes more purposeful. Christ is all the while interceding for us. We are called to steadfastness which means that “things” should not diminish our faith in the Eternal God.

It is because our God is eternal and dependable and has covenanted himself to us that Paul is able to insist that whatever the agents of separation may be “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 37–39).