April 5 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

Devotional

With such a Father, such a Friend, and such a Comforter, who can wage a successful war against the saints of God? God himself cannot be against us, even when the clouds of his providence appear the darkest and his strokes are felt to be the most severe, for he so loved sinners that he gave his only-begotten Son. "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him" (Job 13:15). The law cannot be against us; for the Law-fulfiller has, by his obedience, magnified and made it honorable. Divine justice cannot be against us; for Jesus has met its demands in our place, and his resurrection is a full discharge of all its claims. Nor sin, nor Satan, nor men, nor suffering, nor death, can be really or successfully against us, since the condemnation of sin is removed, and Satan is vanquished, and the ungodly are restrained, and suffering works for good, and the sting of death is taken away.

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" With such a Being on our side, whom shall we fear? We will fear nothing but the disobedience that grieves him, and the sin that offends him. Fearing this, we need fear nothing else. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear..." (Ps. 46:1–2) Listen once more to his wondrous words: "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isa. 41:10). Would we always have God for us? Then let us aim to be for God.

Is not God for you? Has he not always, since he manifested himself to you as your covenant God, been on your side? Has he ever been a wilderness to you, a land of darkness? Has he, in any instance, been unkind, unfriendly, unfaithful? Never. Then be for God—decidedly, wholly, uncompromisingly for God. Your heart for God, your talents for God, your rank for God, your property for God, your influence for God, your all for God; a holy unreserved consecration to him, all of whose love, all of whose grace, all of whose perfections, all of whose heaven of glory is for you. Trembling Christian! God is on your side; and "if God is for us, who can be against us?"

Who trusts in God, a strong abode
in heav'n and earth possesses;
who looks in love to Christ above,
no fear his heart oppresses.
In thee alone, dear Lord, we own
sweet hope and consolation;
our shield from foes, our balm for woes,
our great and sure salvation.

Though Satan's wrath beset our path,
and worldly scorn assail us,
while thou art near we will not fear,
thy strength shall never fail us:
thy rod and staff shall keep us safe,
and guide our steps for ever;
nor shades of death, nor hell beneath,
our souls from thee shall sever.

In all the strife of mortal life
our feet shall stand securely;
temptation's hour shall lose its power,
for thou shalt guard us surely.
O God, renew, with heav'nly dew,
our body, soul, and spirit,
until we stand at thy right hand,
through Jesus' saving merit.

(St. 1 Joachim Magdeburg, 1572; st. 2–3, anon. 1597; tr. by Benjamin H. Kennedy, 1863; alt. by William Walsham How, 1864)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.