Hi Faith Family,
Praying you are well and happy today . . . and staying warm!
Some of you are in the Midwest where temperatures are finally coming up from ridiculously low temperatures! Some of you are seemingly competing in a “Cold-Off,” as if doing a temperature limbo dance (how low can you go?). Apparently the wind chill factors have been revised, so current wind chill readings of -47 would have been considered -60 just a few years back. Schools have off. Worship services are cancelled. Let’s face it: IT’S COLD!
Where is Al Gore when you need him? Perhaps he has contracted an inconvenient frostbite, if he has spent time in the Midwest these past few weeks! Instead of global warming, some have spoken about a new ice age that is upon us (I suspect support for this scientific theory may be gaining popularity in the North-Central portions of our country).
Well, while you are shivering, take a moment to consider that your teeth-chattering is proof that God keeps his promises. Please let me explain what I mean. The very first reference to “cold” in the Bible is the last verse of Genesis 8:
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, COLD and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”(emphasis mine).
Following the cataclysmic world-wide flood, God’s promise to believers was that never again would the world endure such destruction. God’s promise has shown true to this very day, and will far beyond it, until the end of days. But the added loving assurance that the normal cycle of seasons and procession of day into night will continue is a calming reassurance, isn’t it? You may not even believe it at the moment, Midwesterners, but in a matter of a few months you will come in from the humidity and mosquito-swatting into you air-conditioned—yes I typed correctly—air-conditioned home! Not too bold a promise, is it. You’ve experienced it many times before. Some of you have experienced this for several decades. Your own life experience bears out the truth: God always keeps his promises. When next you bundle up and head outside into the frozen tundra of a Midwestern winter, you can lay hold of a special freeze-dried reminder that what God tells you is true.
Too often we miss the spiritual significance of the minutia of our every-day occurrences. We are often too quick to complain and too slow in our appreciation for life’s shadowed blessings. Too often we don’t even recognize the depth of the blessings we have received from the Almighty who created this world for us, near washed it away because of wickedness, and plans for a new heaven and new earth for you and all others who believe in Him.
This comfort broadens as we take in the scope of all of God’s promises, knowing and trusting in their truthfulness as well. God’s promise of a Savior came true—Jesus’ perfect life and sacrificial death assure you that your sins are forgiven. You have an opportunity to re-grip your trust in God’s promises that he will never leave you, God won’t give you more than you can handle, and God’s love for you does not expire.
God bless you today, dear sister—dear brother in the faith, with the assurance that God keeps his promises. I pray this makes the cold just a little more bearable. Blessings on your week!
—Pastor Dan