With your belly full of Thanksgiving leftovers, I pray that you can fill your wagon full of hope and ride with confidence into Christmas and the New Year.
A Southern Story For Christmas and Beyond (and so practical for the challenge of 2020.)
In the early days of our country, a weary traveler came to the banks of the Mississippi River for the first time. There was no bridge. It was early winter, and the surface o the mighty stream was covered in ice. Could he dare cross over? Would certain ice be able to bear his weight?
Night was falling, and it was urgent that he reach the other side. Finally, after much hesitation and with many fears, he began to creep cautiously across the surface of the ice on his hands and knees. He thought that he might distribute his weight as much as possible to keep the ice from breaking beneath him.
About halfway over he heard the sound of singing behind him. Out of the dusk cam a man, driving a horse-drawn load of coal across the ice and singing merrily as he went his way.
Here he was—on his hands and knees, trembling lest the ice not be strong enough to bear him up. And there, as if whisked away by the winter’s wind, went the man, his horses, his sleigh, and his load of coal upheld by the same ice on which he was creeping!
Like this weary traveler, some of us have learned only to creep on the promises of God. Cautiously, timidly, tremblingly we venture forth on His promises, as though the lightness of our step might make His promises more secure. As though we could contribute even the slightest to the strength of His assurances!
He has promised to be with us. Let us believe the promise! He has promised to uphold us. Let us believe Him when He says so. He has promised to grant us victory over our spiritual enemies. Let us trust His truthfulness. Above all, He has promised to grant us full and free forgiveness of all our sins because Jesus Christ is our Savior. And He has promised to come and take us to His heavenly home. So let’s take Him at His Word.
Let’s not creep upon the promise as though they are too fragile to uphold us. Let’s stand on them—confident that God is good as His Word and that He will do what He promised.
The Bread Line, Newsletter of the Colby Presbyterian Church, Colby, Kansas.
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