Have you ever questioned God’s love or struggled to sense His nearness? These challenges are important in our faith journey. Amid the tension, we can experience God’s love deeper than ever before. Romans 8:38-39 meets our questions comprehensively and lays every doubt to rest.

Nothing Can Separate Us From God’s Love – A Romans 8 Study

Listen to “Nothing Can Separate Me” while meditating on Romans 8:38-39

The struggle to trust God’s unconditional love stems from our ordinary childhood experiences. We see it reflected in normal childhood development and what we’ve termed “separation anxiety.”

Separation anxiety sends fear coursing through a young child if they believe their parent or loved one will not return for them. This is a natural fear children experience. Yet as their loved one comes back time and again to lift them from a crib or pick them up from a nursery or preschool class, the child learns to trust their return. 

How a Fear of Loss Can Affect Our View of God’s Love

Overcoming separation anxiety is a normal part of growing up. And yet we find the tendrils of this angst reaching into adulthood, often reshaping itself into a fear of loss. We’re afraid of losing the people or things we love. We might experience this fear of loss in our relationship with God. Once we have felt the comfort and security of His love, we’re afraid of losing touch with it. Yet in His foreknowledge and faithfulness, God threads a theme throughout Scripture, assuring us of His unconditional love. 

Whenever you’re struggling to sense God’s nearness, steep your soul in the promise of Romans 8:38-39:

“And 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. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God’s perfect love presses beyond all boundaries. His affection for and devotion to us are limitless. In Romans 8:38-39, we witness every possible barrier abolished.

 “Neither death nor life”

God’s unfailing love is sufficient, no matter the physical challenges we face — whether unexpected sickness or disease, fatigue, injury, or an ongoing struggle with chronic illness. Though our bodies may fail us, His love never does. Our God is a God of restoration and wants to raise us up. He fine-tuned our bodies with regenerative qualities and our souls to find revival in His truth and light. He stands ready to help, heal, and bring hope whenever we feel broken. His love meets us in our ailments and brings us enduring hope.

“neither angels nor demons” 

God’s dominion supersedes every earthly and heavenly administration. His authority overrules anything bound on earth. No existing management or power can take us from God’s love. God’s love upholds us no matter the oppression we face or how attacked we may feel. When Jesus defeated death on the cross, He secured victory for our lives here on earth and in heaven, and God’s perfect love sees us through to eternity.

“neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow”

God exists outside of time, and His love stretches far backward and into the future and encompasses our entire existence. His everlasting love pours into our time-bound lives. While we might struggle to feel His nearness in our circumstances for a time, we can rest assured that His love envelops the entirety of our experiences. There is no facet of our lives that His love does not touch.

“not even the powers of hell … No power in the sky above or in the earth below”

It is greatly comforting to know that the reach of God’s love has no limits. In the NIV translation, we read “neither height nor depth” can remove us from His love — a love that overwhelms every earthly measurement. Throughout human history, great minds have succeeded in creating systems of measurement and understanding God’s designs through mathematical methods. And yet, even with all our calculations, we can never account for, contain, or begin to comprehend how great God’s love for us is. Although on earth we’ll never realize the full extent of His love, our lives can be a joyful journey of experiencing more of it each day. We can agree with the apostle Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:17-19: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

“nothing in all creation” 

If we still have questions about the reach of God’s love, He sums it up with this: “nothing in all creation….”  The One who created galaxies far greater than we can imagine narrows His attention to us, His children. All creation sings God’s praise, and nothing in creation — including its broken pieces — can remove God’s love from us. We are secure in God’s unconditional and unending love when we place our faith in Christ. Nothing can keep us from His love.

Nothing can separate me

Nothing could ever take me

Take me from Your love

There’s nothing strong enough

In all the universe to

Take me from Your love

The love of Jesus

Not tomorrow or today

Not my joy or deepest pain

There is nothing that could keep me from

Your love

Not in life or even death

Not one power of hell or heaven

For I know You’ll always find me with Your love

Listen to “Nothing Can Separate Me” from “Hidden In My Heart, Volume II”