Friday, June 3, 2016

Grace in Promises Fulfilled

The book of Proverbs says that “a cheerful heart is like good medicine.”  Years ago I saw an old movie about a man who wanted to be a “serious film maker”.  He wanted to catch the drama of life, the dark underside, that he thought shaped the fabric of society.  Then he got in trouble and ended up in jail.  While there the jail had a movie night for the prisoners.  The movie was a series of cartoons.  Having been in jail he saw the dark underside of life and found it most unfulfilling as a topic.  Then when he saw everyone who was so hard pressed in the jail having a great time of relief and laughter at the cartoon movie night, he discovered that he had been looking in the wrong place for what drove society.  There was enough sorrow.  Laughter, a cheerful heart, was indeed good medicine.
Abraham and Sarah had been married for many years.  He was 99 and she was 89.  They had no children of their own.  That had been a great sorrow to them both.  Then one day Jesus came visiting.  He was one of the three men in Genesis 18.  He came with a great message of joy for them both.  In one year they would have their own son.  Sarah sat in the tent and laughed at the very thought of such an impossibility.  God then told her that she would call her son Isaac, which in Hebrew means “laughter”.  Every time she looked at her son she could think of how great God’s grace was to give her a son even in spite of her doubt.  She could laugh every day.  God gave her a cheerful heart.

Anna Russell wrote a beautiful praise hymn which isn’t sung much anymore titled “Wonderful, Wonderful Jesus”.  She talks about dreary days and long nights such as Abraham and Sarah must have endured.  God’s promise to them had included a child, but a child had not come.  Then one day Jesus stopped by and everything changed.  With Jesus all the promises of God are yea and amen.  Jesus said, “Next year you will have a son.”  And they did.  Anna Russell’s hymn of praise lifts our heart in adoration to the grandness of Jesus with this chorus, “Wonderful, wonderful Jesus! In the heart He implanteth a song; a song of deliverance, of courage, of strength – in the heart He implanteth a song.”  Let the promises of the grace of God fulfilled in Christ Jesus our Lord implant a song in your heart today.  


  The Friday Benediction
Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen



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