As It Is Written

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”” -Romans 8:35–36

To demonstrate his assurance to believers that though we suffer tribulation, distress, and persecution nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ, he quotes Psalm 44 to show that historically God’s suffering is a condition of God’s people. It is not a reason to believe one has been rejected or abandoned by God.

In the passage quoted, the Psalmist laments the fact that God’s people had seemed to be abandoned by God, though they had apparently been faithful to him:

“All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way; yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death. If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!” -Psalm 44:17–26

Paul, when writing to the Corinthians, even asserts this is his own experience. He writes, “For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” -2 Corinthians 4:11

God has a purpose in our suffering, and that purpose can be seen in our being conformed to the image of Christ. Suffering works for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose (vs. 28). It works toward our being conformed to the image of Christ (vs. 29 Cf. 2 Corinthians 4:11).