Day 10 - Nothing Can Separate Us

When I was a child, my biggest fear was being separated from my parents in the shopping mall. I remember shopping at the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora, Illinois close to the mall’s closing time. Lights began to dim and store employees were reaching up to pull down those chain-link security gates to lock up their stores. Then an announcement sounded overhead, “Attention shoppers, the mall will be closing in ten minutes.” Suddenly, I was convinced I would become separated from my mother, locked inside the mall overnight and forced to spend the night running from the mannequins that would surely come to life and chase me!

My fear must have been written all over my face because my mom would lean down and whisper words of assurance. “I won’t let you out of my sight,” she would whisper. That combined with a reassuring squeeze of my hand and my fears were calmed (except the thing about the mannequins. They still freaked me out!). These days, I still fear shopping malls but for different reasons. Now, I’m afraid that my wife and daughters might spend all of our money in there! 

Perhaps you’ve heard of the term “separation anxiety.” This is when someone is afraid of being separated from a particular person. Among the symptoms I read about, two, in particular, made me think of my relationship with God. One symptom was “having a heightened fear of being alone,” and another was “needing to know where a person is at all times.” Spiritually speaking, we all can relate to these symptoms. God knows that our awareness of our imperfections and sin would leave us with a heightened fear of being left alone by God. Why else would Scripture echo this refrain so often that God is WITH us? I need that daily reminder, don’t you? That’s where that second symptom of separation anxiety comes in. I need to know where God is at all times but our need to know where He is at all times is not a symptom of anxiety. It is a means of survival. I must remind myself daily that nothing can separate me from God’s love. Let today’s Scriptures be an assuring whisper, that squeeze of the hand. Allow it to calm your fear today knowing that “nothing can separate us from the love of God.” 

For more devotionals from Matthew West, please visit, popwe.org.