To Encourage You

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

If you live in central Pennsylvania and you like football, chances are you’re a Penn State fan.  Another way of putting this is that when Penn State is playing, you are for Penn State.  So, what does that mean, exactly? Well, if you’re at a “white out,” you’re united with everyone else who is for Penn State. You dress like them and you cheer with them. In your capacity as a fan, you do everything in your power to help the Nittany Lions to victory.  You cheer – loudly – so that the Lions know you’re firmly on their side and so that the other team can’t hear their quarterback’s signals and snap count.  You’re happy about it when the Lions win and you’re discouraged when they don’t. You are present for them, either physically in the stands, or by virtue of TV or radio.  You care about them. If players have been injured you hope they will soon recover.  You are interested in the players and coaches themselves and gravitate toward magazine and newspaper articles about them.  And you invest in them, by virtue of tickets for a game or the purchase of items with the team logo.  You probably wear those items, not just during a game, but at other times as well. 

However, regardless of your enthusiasm, the power you have to influence the outcome of any particular game is limited.  There’s that other team to consider, so no matter how hard you cheer, if the opposing team is just better, they typically are going to win.  And even if the Lions are better, there are other factors that can result in a loss – like poor play calling, poor weather, bad officiating, or injuries. 

So, what’s it mean, as the verse says above, that God is for us, i.e., for those who have put their faith in Him?  Well, just like a sports fan, it means God is on our side.  He wants what is best for us. He encourages us by way of His precious and encouraging Word as well as through others around us, i.e., other believers, who are also for us.  He is present with us – but never virtually, for He is omnipresent every moment of every day.  He is “a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).  And He’s never a fair-weather fan, for “He will never leave us nor forsake us” (Deuteronomy 31:6).  In fact, the Bible is clear that we couldn’t get away from Him even if we tried, for of Him the psalmist reminds us, “You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me” (Psalm 139:2-5).  Beyond that, He cares for us, as Jesus reminded us with these words: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31).  And our God is supremely interested in us.  One of the most amazing passages in Scripture reflects this with these words: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand” (Psalm 139:17-18).  How awesome that the infinite God of the Universe has such thoughts towards those He loves! 

But the most wonderful thing in all of this is that the God Who is for us is infinitely more powerful than anything that is against us. Unlike the limitations of the Nittany Lion fans who can root on their team but, at times, to no avail, nothing in the universe can overcome the power of our awesome God. Listen to the list of those things that can be, and often are, against us, but to no avail, as the apostle Paul tells us with these words which follow those from Romans 8:31 above: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one Who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 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 8:32-39). 

And oh, by the way, this awesome God is invested in us. And what is that investment?  Incredibly, it’s the life of His own Son. 

Yes, if God is for us, who, indeed, can be against us?  It’s such a wonderful rhetorical question, you see, for although there may be many people, circumstances, physical things, and even the demons of hell arrayed against us, the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God Who is for us will certainly bring us eternal victory in the end.