Nothing Can Separate Us

Pastor and author James Moore tells a story about a young man whose wife had died, leaving him with a small son. Back home from the cemetery, they went to bed early because there was nothing else he could bear to do.

As he lay there in the darkness, grief-stricken and heartbroken, the little boy broke the stillness from his little bed with the question, “Daddy, where is mommy?” The father got up and brought the little boy to bed with him. However, the child was still disturbed and restless, occasionally asking questions like “Why isn’t she here?” and When is she coming back?”

Finally, the little boy said, “Daddy, if your face is toward me, I think I can go to sleep now.” And in a little while he was quiet. The father lay there in the darkness, and then in childlike faith, prayed this prayer: “O God, I don’t see how I can survive this. The future looks so miserable. But if your face is toward me, somehow I think I can make it.” 

In the book of Romans the apostle Paul wrote:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or the sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:35)

The promise is not that hardship or persecution or danger would disappear – but that God’s face is towards us, and that God’s love is powerful enough to carry us through.

Let us pray: I pray, Loving God, for those who are in the midst of the heartaches and dangers of life. May they know that your face is toward them and that through your mighty love, there will be a way forward. Amen.