If God is For Us

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”

- Romans 8:31

Dear Weary Saint,

We are engaged in a great conflict. Paul listed our opposition as “rulers, authorities, powers of this world’s darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” These forces work to blind the minds of unbelievers, accuse the brethren and devour the faithful. It’s not pretty. 

While we likely don’t perceive even half of the true opposition we face, most of us feel the weight of it in our bones. It’s the weariness that settles over you like a dreary smog as you walk beside yet another soul in crisis. It’s the despair that threatens to silence you in the quiet hours of the night. It’s the distractedness that persists like a dripping faucet during the labors of prayer and preparation. It’s the desire to hunker down, play it safe, and ignore the brokenness that surrounds us. 

And the carnage is all around us. Families feel besieged. Communities are stripped of resources. Nations ravage other nations. Men and women are enraptured with deadly ideologies and the worship of idols. Darkness is harbored in our neighborhoods even as we watch it unfold every evening on the evening news. 

In 2 Kings 6, Elisha and his servant were also surrounded by an enemy - the Army of Aram - and the servant was about to sink under the weight of despair. Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” Then he saw the armies of heaven that surrounded them. God was with them and for them!

Friend, I pray your eyes are opened to see Jesus for Who He is: God with us and for us. We never need despair. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Though the darkness rages against us, though the enemy accuses us, though evil assails us — God Almighty, Maker, and Sustainer of all that is made, is for us! He has given His own Son for us. He has purchased us with Christ’s precious blood! Will He abandon us now?

Wherever you feel besieged by the enemy today, don’t be afraid. Make your declaration, “If God is for me, who can be against me?” And then go: Run to the dark and broken places: Declare His Word: Minister His Grace: Serve His people: Seek and save the lost. We have no reason to hunker down, even if we are besieged by the enemy. Our God is for us.