Promises

 December 9, 2023

Well I remember singing the old gospel song, “Standing on the Promises.” The tune is lively and the words encouraging:

Standing on the promises of Christ, my King,

Through eternal ages let his praises ring;

Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,

Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain:

Standing, standing,

Standing on the promises of God, my Savior;

Standing, standing,

I'm standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail.

When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,

By the living Word of God I shall prevail,

Standing on the promises of God. [Refrain]

Standing on the promises of Christ, the Lord,

Bound to him eternally by love's strong cord,

Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword,

Standing on the promises of God. [Refrain]

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,

List'ning ev'ry moment to the Spirit's call,

Resting in my Savior as my all in all,

Standing on the promises of God. [Refrain]

We sang this song frequently, but never do I remember anyone inquiring exactly what those promises were that we were supposedly standing upon. Don’t get me wrong; it’s still a great song, but if we don’t know what God’s promises are, we’re really standing on quicksand.

Today’s Scripture lesson took me to John’s gospel, chapter 16, verse 33 where we hear Jesus promising two things:

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

We love the promise of peace. I am very content to sit by my fire watching the birds at our feeder as the snow gently falls. I love the fact that our home is pretty tension-free; neither Linda nor myself can tolerate so much of the drama that is a daily occurrence in many homes. It feels good to sit with friends over coffee, laughing or just talking about everyday life. I love the promise of peace. 

Problem is, Jesus doesn’t stop there. He also promises tribulation—trouble in this world. His peace is not the absence of trouble, but a settledness through it. If it were up to me, I’d choose sitting by my fire sans the trouble, but the way Jesus says it, it’s a package deal. He wants to demonstrate his power in us by showcasing how we can go through difficult times without getting rattled by them. That kind of peace, Jesus says, is found only in him. If I have to face life all by myself, it will take me down every time. But I can have peace in Jesus because he has overcome the world. That too, is his promise.

Note well that this overcoming is a promise. When we look around, it doesn’t appear that Jesus has overcome much of anything. That’s because this isn’t what I would call a universal promise. Instead, it is the promise that he has overcome the power of the world around me to infiltrate and destroy his world in me. The storms may rage, but as I’ve often said, it’s not the storm outside that sinks the ship; it’s when the storm outside gets inside. In Jesus, that never needs to happen. 

So even today, I stand on the promises of God, that the trouble will come, but in it, I can still have the peace of Jesus in my heart.