Nothing can separate us from God

“As the dear pants for the water, so my soul longs after Thee.”  This Psalm is the cry of every heart, whether we know it or not.  

Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of Voice of the Martyrs saw first hand the evidence of this truth.  When the Communists came to power in Romania in 1944 Wurmbrand, while working with the Underground Church, encountered scores of Russian officers who knew nothing of God, but knew they wanted Him.

A typical incident involved an Orthodox priest friend of his who could not speak Russian.  The priest called Wurmbrand for help to speak to a Russian officer about the Lord. The man wanted to confess.  He had no religious education and had never attended a religious service.  The man loved God with no knowledge of who God is.  

When Pastor Wurmbrand met him, he read the Sermon on the Mount and the parables of Jesus to him. The man danced around the room joyfully crying, “What a wonderful beauty!  How could I live without knowing this Christ!” Then when he heard the story of Jesus death, the man fell in a heap and wept bitterly.  But when the resurrection story was read, he rejoiced and cried, “He is alive, he is alive!”

Later, as the two men prayed together, the man in childlike honesty said, “Oh God, what a fine chap you are! If I were you and You were me, I would never have forgiven You of Your sins.  But You are really a very nice chap! I love You with all of my heart!”

In Pastor Wurmbrand’s book, Tortured for Christ, encounter after encounter resonates the same hunger.  No matter how successful the Communist system was at brainwashing the Russian people, they still knew in their heart of hearts who their Maker was. For Pastor Wurmbrand it was “heaven on earth” to talk to these men and women.

Romans 8: 38-39 says that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  “...neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

No matter how hard outside forces try to eliminate God from our hearts or how hard we try to separate ourselves from Him, He will eventually make His way into our hearts even when there is only a small opening in the “door”.