Motto Text 2015
Text: Genesis 18:14.
“Is anything too hard for the LORD?”
One of our most famous Christmas Carols – ‘O Little Town Of Bethlehem’ – contains the reassuring lines:
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the Everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years, are met in Thee tonight.
Phillips Brooks, the author of this hymn, continually turns our attention to the Lord Jesus Christ – the only One through Whom our best hopes are realised and our worst fears are calmed. I am persuaded that Christ Jesus is the answer to our hopes and fears for any – and every – year.
As I survey the mixture of possibilities and perplexities, hopes and fears, that will be dotted through the months of 2015, my heart is challenged and comforted when I remember that:
[1] THERE IS NO PROMISE TOO HARD FOR MY LORD TO FULFIL.
More than 300 specific promises were made in Old Testament times about the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Though the odds against fulfilment were absolutely incredible, these promises were fulfilled with stunning exactness.
Some have computed the promises in the Bible to the level of thousands. These are promises which we can personally claim. One of the most precious must be our Saviour’s words in Matthew 11:28-29: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest ... unto your souls.”
I encourage you to read the Bible this year and, as you read, mark and claim those promises the Lord has made to you. There is no promise too hard for the Lord to fulfil.
[2] THERE IS NO PROBLEM TOO DIFFICULT FOR MY LORD TO SOLVE.
It has been said, “When God is going to do something wonderful, He starts with a difficulty. When God is going to do something very wonderful, He starts with an impossibility.”
As Mary Magdalene and her friends made their way through the haziness of the dawn to the tomb of Jesus, their minds were occupied by a huge problem: “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” As it turned out, they need not have bothered wasting their mental energies on rehearsing this problem: their Lord had already taken care of it. Christ had risen – and rolled that stone away!
He can roll away the stones, even move the mountainous issues, that annoy us in this life – or provide the grace and strength we need to bear our heavy burdens. His counsel in 1 Peter 5:7 is not empty, but emphatic: “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.”
[3] THERE IS NO PLACE TOO REMOTE FOR MY LORD TO REACH.
100 years ago, it was considered impossible that the good news of the Gospel of Christ could penetrate many areas of our earth. Since then, walls have fallen, ‘curtains’ have been breached, and multitudes of people have been reached for Christ – a clear fulfilment of our Lord’s words in Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.”
Perhaps, in your current circumstances, or on account of your past, you reckon yourself to be someone who is too remote for my Lord to reach. However, the truth is, as Romans 10:13 expresses it: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
It is no secret what God can do,
What He’s done for others, He’ll do for you:
With arms wide open He’ll pardon you,
It is no secret what God can do. |
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