Pessimists think the worst and hope for the best. I have no data for this, but it seems the world is disproportionately filled with more pessimists than optimists. They live out Murphy’s Law in real life every day: “If anything can go wrong, it will.” Did you know that “Murphy” was a real person? Capt. Edward A. Murphy was an engineer working at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949. He was assigned to an Air Force to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash. One day, after finding that a transducer was wired wrong, he found the technician responsible and said, “If there is any way to do it wrong, you’ll find it.” The project manager kept a list of “laws” and continued to add to them, eventually becoming “Murphy’s Laws”.
Sometimes, as a follower of Jesus Christ, things don’t work out the way we anticipated. That’s life. It might be easy to say these difficulties or obstacles will be ultimately effective at derailing our faith. This passage reminds us that nothing could be further from the truth. Our God is an optimist and he gives us his assurance that nothing can separate us from Christ’s love for us. It’s interesting that the Apostle Paul, who penned this passage, lists a number of circumstances that someone might think could come between us and God. Paul had already experienced most of the list personally. He knew the answer, not just in theory, but in real life. In fact, even in the most shattering of situations, the love of Christ is with us.
That gives us all confidence to face the direst of conditions. God’s got you. You’re his. He won’t forget you. He won’t abandon you. The worst that life can dish out is no match to God’s love. So, don’t approach the future as a pessimist, but as an optimist, because God’s got your back. When someone has your back, they are there for you unconditionally. God’s like that.