Promises
January 1, 2009
by Maria Simone
The Christmas season can be so busy, and it’s easy to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. On Christmas eve morning, I was feeling particularly overwhelmed by all the shopping and cleaning that I still had left to do, so I opened my bible to Luke Chapter 2 and asked the Lord to give me a new perspective. Verse 8 speaks of the angel of the Lord coming to the shepherds, to announce the birth of Jesus. Verses 9-11 go on to say, “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” I put myself in the place of the shepherds, and thought about what it must have been like to be there in the fields at that moment. Their entire lives they had been waiting for the promised Messiah, holding on to the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (verse 6). Their entire lives…waiting for Jesus…and right there in front of them was the angel, announcing His birth…God had kept His promise to send a Savior to deliver us from our sins. Isaiah 55:11 says that God’s word will not return void, but WILL accomplish what He has sent it forth to do. God ALWAYS keeps His promises.
So we see from this example that God fulfills His promises from His word, but what about those specific promises that He speaks to the hearts of His children? Consider Simeon for a moment, from Luke 2:25. Like the shepherds, he too had been waiting for the Messiah to come. We see in verse 26 that “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” God had made a very specific promise to Simeon. Can you imagine Simeon’s joy when he walked into the temple courts and saw the Jesus child? Verses 28-32 tell us, “Simeon took him (Jesus) in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” A very specific promise from the Lord to Simeon, fulfilled. God ALWAYS keeps His promises.
Do you have a promise from the Lord that you’ve been holding on to? I do – six years ago God made a very specific promise to me regarding my husband’s salvation. I can hear His words in my heart and see the image in my mind, as if it was yesterday. Do I sometimes get weary waiting for God to fulfill this promise? Sure I do, but then I think about the shepherds and Simeon, and how they trusted God to keep His word, and He did not disappoint them. In fact, He fulfilled His promise above and beyond their wildest dreams. So my friend, I encourage you today to take heart, and hold on to the promises of God…He ALWAYS keeps His promises.
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