What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ...Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39 NASBLife in Christ will not spare you any hardship. But it will allow you to overcome any hardship.
Satan has been called the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12.10). He stands before God bringing accusations day and night. But all of his accusations fall on deaf ears because Jesus is at the right hand of God defending us.
If spiritual forces in Heaven are unable to separate you from God, neither will the stresses of life. Bad things happen to good people. Life can be distressing. Although we don't always understand why such things happen, the Spirit of God within us will give us the grace to overcome.
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul is relating that he has a "thorn in the flesh". After praying for it to be removed, he received God's reply, "And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. [2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NASB]
We have no power over death or life. We are not as strong as angels or principalities. We have little or no control over things present or things to come.
I wish I could promise that God will remove all of the hardships and obstacles in life. But I can't, because nothing in the Bible suggests that He will. Instead, He gives us the grace to endure. And we can endure, secure in the hope that nothing can separate us from God's love.
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