“Standing on the Promises” is not exactly a Christmas song, but it has been running through my head lately and when I think about it, it does seem appropriate to the season.
The refrain goes like this:
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.
(Words and music: Kelso Carter, 1886)
For centuries, God’s people had been holding to the promise of the longed-for Messiah. Simeon, for one, was “looking forward to the consolation of Israel,” as Luke tells us (2:25). His consolation, and ours, comes with the birth of Jesus. Though his birth, life, death, and resurrection we claim the promises of God as firm, never to be broken. God’s promises can be relied upon even when we can’t rely on ourselves or on the strength of our own virtue or faith.
What are these promises? Obviously, God never promised us that all would be sweetness and light in this life. I asked Sister Elizabeth what she saw as the promises of God, and together we came up with the following list:
Mercy: tender mercy, restful mercy, challenging mercy
Peace: “not as the world gives,” says Jesus, but a more sturdy peace even in the midst of strife, a peace which takes root in our hearts and the world through mutual compassion and reconciliation
Love: a love that is creative, unending, unfailing, unconditional
Presence: God-with-us (Emmanuel) both when we are aware of it and when we are not, both when everything is going well and when life is so dark that the very existence of God seems unlikely
Fidelity: in Sister Elizabeth’s words, the promise of God is “to see us through to the other side of suffering and death” — a promise grounded in the Resurrection of the crucified Jesus Christ from the dead.
Here is verse 2 of “Standing on the Promises”:
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.
__________
For in [Jesus] every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 1:20)
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:22-24)