The Greatest Power In Creation

Scripture

I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

~Romans 8:38, NLT

Quote

I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.

~Oswald Chambers

As followers of Christ, we are not immune to trouble or even distress. Jesus said, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. The Greek word here translated trials is thlip’-sis and it means to be pressed, or under pressure. It can be translated tribulation, distress or affliction. So Jesus never promised us a trouble free life; to the contrary, He promised us the opposite but it does not matter what trouble we face or how much; these things can never separate us from the love of God that we have in Christ. Nothing is greater than His love; not even death itself. Divorce and cancer cannot come between you and Christ; nothing in fact can sever your relationship with Christ. James, the brother of our LORD, said it like this, Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.

One of the things that happens when we are getting squeezed by life’s trials is that we begin to let go of things that are not necessary. We begin to drop the trivial and cling to the things that have eternal significance. This enhances our life and we move by grace to a higher level. I love the old hymn Higher Ground and the chorus goes like this…

Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s table land,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Someone asks one of the Astronauts what his first impression was as he rocketed into outer space: he said, “The higher you get, the smaller the earth becomes.”  What reveals the depth of Christ love? Is it not tribulation? What causes the oak to grow strong–the sunshine or the storm? It is the fierce wind that makes the oak strong. What causes the roots of the oak to grow deeper–the rain or the drought? It is the drought that drives the roots deeper. All these adversities propel us upward to the higher ground. Then we can sing…My heart has no desire to stay, where doubts arise and fears dismay; Though some may dwell where those abound, my prayer, my aim, is higher ground.

Extra

One of my many regrets and that I am void of musical talent. Believe it or not, my grandmother whom we called Mama could play several instruments and sing like a bird. Unfortunately, I missed that gene. Doug always wants me to pray in the middle of our praise and worship so as the time approaches, I cut my mic on. This past Sunday I cut my mic on for the prayer but assumed the sound room would cut me off; Doug started the next song and middle ways through I noticed an ashen look on his face and he was not singing. We were making a joyful noise but he was silent. That is when I realized, my mic was still on so I stop singing immediately and Doug breathed a sigh of relief. I don’t know what is wrong with the boy. He confessed later, your voice was dominant and I didn’t know what to do. He was trying to get the sound room to turn me off; when the congregation found out what happened they got a chuckle. It was a good ice breaker.

I said all that to say this: a Missionary on furlough at NOBTS did an arrangement of HIGHER GROUND but he never released the sheet music or allowed anyone to make a copy. I can hum the bars but not well enough for anyone to compose the music. I hate it because it was one beautiful piece of music. As C.S. Lewis said, “Onward and Upward, always!”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *