Promises of substance

I am often asked by folks how Dave and I have made it through our years of physical trials: three cancers, 3 cancer recurrences, and two auto-immune diseases between us. I usually answer the same way: by depending on God and His promises.  We have found that, wonder of wonder, after years of saying we believed these promises and trusted the one who gave them, they are actually true things, and full of substance: the type of substance that is firm enough to stand on.  Let me give you a recent, real-life example.

I found myself in the exhausted place of a late Sunday evening, after all of the day's activities, and all the week's work, and I was weepy.  I lay next to my sweet husband, just crying. We had read both Spurgeon and Calvin together, and prayed together, and I was just done and done-in for the day.  That's always when Satan attacks, and the fear begins to creep in.  So I wept, and Dave began to sing some scripture songs to me.  These are songs that simply put scripture to music, and Dave and I have worked off-and-on over the past four or five years learning a variety of them to meditate on.  He sang verse after verse about depending on the Lord in times of fear, trusting in Him, His power to save, His love for us, His work of redemption.

Soon, I wasn't crying.  I was peaceful, and ready for sleep.  My sweet husband had reminded me of what I really needed to know, of what was true.  No matter what happens to me, Jesus died for me, and has a plan that He is fulfilling in and through me. It doesn't matter that I can't always see it, it is happening all the same. I am never alone. I am never powerless.  I am safe in the palm of my Lord's hand.

Those are the kind of substantive promises that make a firm place to stand amid the shifting sand of this life under the sun.

Isa 41:10 'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you...' 

Je 1:12 "...for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled." 

Ro 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 

Phl 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. 

Ps 56:3-4 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? 

Mt 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."