January 5: Assurance of Salvation: If God is For Us Who Can Be Against Us?
♫ Music:
Day 38 - Tuesday, January 5
Title: ASSURANCE OF SALVATION: IF GOD IS FOR US WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?
Scripture: Romans 8:31-34
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 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? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Poetry:
A Prayer that Will be Answered
by Anna Kamienska
(Translated by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanaugh)
Lord let me suffer much
and then die
Let me walk through silence
and leave nothing behind not even fear
Make the world continue
let the ocean kiss the sand just as before
Let the grass stay green
so that the frogs can hide in it
so that someone can bury his face in it
and sob out his love
Make the day rise brightly
as if there were no more pain
And let my poem stand clear as a windowpane
bumped by a bumblebee’s head
ASSURANCE OF SALVATION: IF GOD IS FOR US WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?
In Romans 8, Paul paints a picture of the invulnerability that a Christian experiences in the light of Christ's redemption. In the verses Handel quotes, the emphasis is on the security of our justification - because of Christ's sacrifice, no one can bring an accusation against me. In spite of my continual failure to live in the righteousness to which I have been called, I will not stand condemned because Christ is interceding for me. But if we look at the larger scope of Romans 8, the invulnerability Paul is describing extends far beyond justification. A Christian is secured in the face of "tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword" (8:35). Because of Christ, we are secured against death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth, and anything else in all creation (8:38).
This message of our invulnerability might strike us as strange in our current context. Here, in the early days of 2021, with ICUs at capacity, jobs lost, and a contentious election season weighing on us, many of us have never felt more vulnerable. What does it mean to be secured? Does it mean that as a Christian I won't face tribulation or distress? That I won't experience nakedness or danger? That I won't suffer or die? Not in the least. What Paul describes as the source of our invulnerability is that none of these things can separate us from the love of Christ.
Now, whether these verses are a comfort to me or not depends entirely on whether I place the love of Christ higher in my life than these other goods. If I have followed Christ believing that trusting in him will bring me health, or earthly comforts, political ascendency, or job security, I have been barking up the wrong tree. If I have set my mind on the things of the flesh, I have submitted myself to the law of sin and death (8:5). Health evaporates, companies go bankrupt, political power vanishes, earthly comforts fail to satisfy, and in pursuing any of these things I put myself in the way of sins that will corrupt me. But if I can set my mind on the things of the Spirit, I enter into the life and peace of Christ (8:6). I can look on the vagaries of earthly life as not ultimately important, even when they involve suffering and loss. Like the Prodigal Son depicted in the painting, our invitation is to dispense with the glamorous and ruinous kingdom of this world, and return to the peace of our sonship in the kingdom of our Father.
This, I think, is the perspective that allows Anna Kamienska to begin her poem with the prayer, "Lord, let me suffer much, and then die." This is not a prayer I have prayed, but as the poet goes on, it becomes clear that the reason she can pray for her own suffering and death is that she longs to submit herself to the world as God has given it in his providence. She asks that God “make the world continue” with ocean, sand, grass and frogs in their traditional places. If the temptation of the Prodigal son is to reject his inheritance, Kamienska urges us to return to ours, and submit ourselves to its Lord, trusting that whatever comes in this new year, we are waiting with all creation to “be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (8:21).
Prayer:
Lord, your creation is groaning, and we are groaning too, awaiting our adoption as your children, and the redemption of our bodies. Give us hope as we wait with patience, and help us in our weakness.
Amen
Dr. Janelle Aijian, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Torrey Honors College
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
The Return of the Prodigal
Grace Carol Bomer
2017
Oil paint and cold wax medium on gold leafed panel
48” x 48”
The two figures in this painting by Grace Carol Bomer embody the metaphor of heavenly love and the embrace of forgiveness found in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Bomer uses gold on the figure, face, and robe of the Father, but paints the Prodigal Son’s face in ashen tones. Bomer also added the Hebrew text on the son’s arm reading: “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine,” from the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon 2:16). The Prodigal thankfully accepts his Father’s embrace, is clothed in his Father’s robe, is given his Father’s ring, and is welcomed to a celebration feast. The gold leaf background is a perfect metaphor for the lavish, heavenly love of God the Father. The forgiving Father remains constant in his love throughout the story and is a picture of God himself. The wayward son had no right to claim a blessing and had nothing to offer except a life of service. But he repents and is prepared to fall at his Father’s feet, begging for forgiveness and mercy. God greatly loves us and patiently waits for us to repent so he can lavish us with His great mercy (Ephesians 2:1-10). What wondrous love is this!
https://gracebomer.wordpress.com/
About the Artist:
Grace Carol Bomer was born in Alberta, Canada, and pursued a career in teaching before she became a professional painter. Moving to North Carolina to study art at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Carol established her Soli Deo Gloria Studio there. As an abstract expressionist characterized by sumptuous color, textures and palpable light, Bomer seeks to explore themes that center around “the human condition surprised by the grace of God”. She is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for her art. Her layered mark making and pairing of text and image also reference her belief that all things hold together in Christ, who is the Word of God and Image of God. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and juried exhibitions and is held in many public, private, and corporate collections, including Wachovia Bank, Westinghouse, Holiday Inns, Inc., and Cessna Corp.
gracecarolbomer.com/home.html
Music #1:
“He Will See You Through” from the album There is No Other (with Francesco Turrisi) [Deluxe Version]
Lyrics:
When your path is full of worry
He will see you through
When you feel alone on your journey
He will see you through
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen, amen
When you think the world's gone crazy
He will see you through
When it looks like the end of days
He'll surely see you through
All your silver, all your gold
Won't shine brighter than your soul
Amen
Amen, amen
All your silver, all your gold
Won't shine brighter than your soul
Amen
Amen, amen
Amen, amen
Performers:
Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi
Composer/Lyricist:
Rhiannon Giddens (b. 1977) is an American musician. She is a founding member of the country, blues, and old-time music band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, where she is the lead singer, fiddle player, and banjo player. Giddens is a 2000 graduate of Oberlin Conservatory at Oberlin College, where she studied opera. In addition to her work with the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, Giddens has released two solo albums and her latest album, There Is No Other (2019), is a collaboration with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi. She appears in Smithsonian Folkways’ collection, Just Around the Bend: Survival and Revival in Southern Banjo Styles, documenting Mike Seeger's final trip through Appalachia in 2009.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhiannon_Giddens
https://www.rhiannongiddens.com/
Francesco Turrisi (b. 1977) is a Grammy nominated multi-instrumentalist. In 1997, he left his native Italy to study jazz piano and early music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague where he obtained both a BA and MA degree. He has released five critically acclaimed albums. Since 2018 he has collaborated with American Grammy Award winning singer and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens on a duo project that seamlessly combines music from the Mediterranean with music from the African diaspora in the Americas. In 2019, Giddens and Turrisi released their critically acclaimed duo album There is No Other. The album single “I’m on My Way” was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award. His long list of collaborations includes: Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon Giddens, Nils Landgren, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Gavin Bryars, Rolando Villazon, Lisa Hannigan, The King’s Singers, Philippe Jaroussky, Pepe el Habichuela, and Lucilla Galeazzi.
https://www.francescoturrisi.com/bio
Music #2:
Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 3: 8. If God Be For Us Who Can Be Against Us?
Lyrics:
If God be for us, who can be against us?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifieth.
Who is He that condemneth?
It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us.
Messiah Performers/Musicians/Lyricists/Composer:
Unless otherwise noted, all Messiah performances are by Margaret Marshall, Catherine Robbin, Anthony Rolfe-Johnson, Robert Hale, Charles Brett, Saul Quirke, the English Baroque Soloists, and the Monteverdi Choir conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Biographical information for the performers and musicians can be found by clicking here.
About the Poet:
Anna Kamienska (1920-1986) was a Polish poet, writer, translator, and literary critic who wrote many books for children and adolescents. She began studying at the Pedagogical School in Warsaw in 1937. During the Nazi occupation, she lived in Lublin and taught in underground village schools. After graduating from college in Lublin, she studied classical philology at the University of Lodz. She wrote fifteen books of poetry, two volumes of "Notebooks” providing a shorthand record of her readings, three volumes of commentaries on the Bible, and translations from several Slavic languages, Hebrew, Latin and French. Her poems record the struggles of a rational mind with religious faith, addressing loneliness and uncertainty in a direct, unsentimental manner. While exploring the meaning of love and grief and the yearning for love, Kamienska's poetry still expresses a quiet humor and a pervasive sense of gratitude for human existence. Kamienska's poems also touch on Judaism and the total loss of Jewish culture and the Yiddish language from Poland as a result of the Holocaust.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Kamie%C5%84ska
About the Devotion Author:
Dr. Janelle Aijian, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Torrey Honors College
Biola University
Dr. Janelle Aijian is an Associate Professor of Philosophy teaching in the Torrey Honors College at Biola University. She studies religious epistemology and early Christian ethics, and lives with her husband and their two children in La Mirada, California.