If God be for us
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”Romans 8:31
Reflection
Paul has just written, in the preceding verses, some of the grandest statements in the New Testament: that all things work together for good to those who love God, that He knew us beforehand, called us and justified us. And then he stops and asks a question, almost like someone catching their breath after a long climb: "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?". It is a rhetorical question, asked to be answered with the firmness of someone who already knows the answer.
Notice that Paul does not claim that no one will be against us. The Bible is honest: there will be opposition, difficulty, misunderstanding, injustice, illness, loss. Paul himself listed, a few verses later, tribulation, persecution, famine, peril, sword. The question is another: "who can be against us", in the sense of who can prevail. The weight of opposing forces changes size completely when set beside the will of the almighty God on our side. Much can rise against us; nothing wins when He is on our side.
The sentence depends on the "if": "If God be for us". And the following text answers the doubt that this "if" might raise: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?". The proof that God is for us is not a feeling or a good circumstance, it is the cross. If He loved us enough to give the Son, there is no reason to doubt that He is on our side now. Our security rests on an action already accomplished.
Facing what you fear, ask this question aloud: "If God be for me, who can be against me?". Name what seems too big: a threat, a boss, a diagnosis, a debt, an enemy. Then look to the cross and remember that the God who acted there is on your side. Live today with the confidence of someone who has the Greatest on their side: not with arrogance, but with the quiet firmness of someone who knows whom they trust.
Prayer
Lord, thank You that You are for me. The proof of it is the cross, where You gave Your Son for me. When everything seems to be against me, remind me that no one can prevail against Your love. Steady my heart in You and give me confidence to face this day. Amen.
Put it into practice
Write the name of what seems to be "against you" and, beside it, copy Romans 8:31. Read it aloud, looking to the cross as proof of God's love, and live the day with that confidence.
To reflect on
What "adversary" has seemed bigger than the God who is on your side, and what changes in you when you remember He is for you?
Bible text: King James Version (public domain).