Daily Manna · Day 61 · March 2
Inseparable
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When a big tree comes down in a storm, its roots often lift out of the ground with it, and you can see that they had spread sideways instead of down. They had followed the water under the neighbour's wall. The tree looked as strong as all the others until the wind came.
Many people think of God's love for them in the same way. Their faith looks like everyone else's, but in private they suspect their roots are shallow, and that one more storm will prove it.
That is why it helps to look at what Paul checks in these verses. His question is whether anything could ever pull you away from God's love, and he goes through everything that might: "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature." It is a careful sweep: life and death, the ranks of spiritual powers, all of time, the highest heights and the lowest depths, and then a catch-all for anything left over. Three verses earlier Paul had asked, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Paul went through several of those himself, so he is not promising that hard things will stay away. He is saying that none of them can cut you off from God's love.
Notice that the last phrase, "any other creature," covers you as well. You are a creature too, so even you, with all your failures, cannot undo this love. Paul can say that because of where the love is kept: it is "the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." It holds from His end, and He does not let go.
So think of the worst true thing about yourself, the thing you would never say out loud. Then tell God that even this cannot separate you from His love. And if you have assumed that someone has written you off, the way you feared God had, think about getting in touch with them. The love that holds you will not let go.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 61 is Pride Deceived Thee (Obadiah 1:3).