Out of Uncertainty, Promise
by Rachel Loynes
Receptionist & Administrator, CBN Europe
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The past year has been full of uncertainty like never before. For many it has felt like the once solid ground beneath them has been shaken to the core. But in times like these, we can cling onto God’s promises. Keep reading to find out why out of uncertainty, there is promise.
A Year of Uncertainty
If ever there was a year of uncertainty, this is it.
All the questions – ‘what ifs’, ‘don’t knows’, ‘not sures’ – and the reality that our lives aren’t really under our control (even when we are used to being told that they are). We’re told that our destinies are under our own control, based on decisions we make. We hear that positive thinking will produce great things, limitations will be removed from our lives, we can make anything possible and become whatever we would like to be.
I don’t know about you but, this year, none of those suggestions have been of much help.
It has been a year when control was taken from us to a great extent and ‘others’ decided what we can do and where we can go.
For me, the focus has been taken off of my own self-centred desires and redirected back to God Himself. He has been my anchor in the storm, focus in confusion, comfort in distress and hope in darkest places. The knowledge that life and death is in the Creator’s hands and that our trust can be solely in Him has been my lifeline.
As we approach the year’s end our focus shifts to a moment in time when our planet welcomed the most precious, treasured gift it has ever been given. This beats any vaccine, any cure, any career, thrill or fitness regime and food. This is a gift that is eternal, forever, never ending. There is no other that can offer this satisfaction, creativity, vision, or love.
But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
This gift is Jesus, our Promise, the one the Earth waited to welcome from the beginning of time. Jesus our Saviour, our Redeemer. He gives us hope and said, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.’ (John 14 1-3, NIV)
An amazing promise, that this Jesus who appeared to the world as a little baby, became the very same one who promises to prepare a place for us in His heavenly kingdom. A place full of joy, peace and laughter, where there is no more sorrow or pain or sickness, no more Covid-19 or death. A place where angels continually praise our God.
We see a small reflection of this in our Christmas carols with ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’, ‘Joy to the World’ and ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’. It is a place where the ‘Silent Night’ of Christmas becomes a day without end and where the light of our Lord and Saviour fills our vision. There will be no silence but unending music, singing and dancing.
So, this Christmas as we reflect upon the past, the parties we would normally be going to, the large family gatherings many would have had and now an expectation of a ‘quieter one’ this coming season, remember that in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ there is an endless Christmas party. Later, there will be Heaven, where all the promises of God and His Word are fulfilled and there is joy everlasting.
