2 Corinthians 1: MSG
20  Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident.
21  God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us.
22  By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.

We live in a world that is constantly hurling scepticism, cynicism towards us through all manner of voices.  Sometimes it is hard to find anything positive to hope in.  Men break their promises, various teachers tell us why things cannot happen instead of why they should take place.

Maybe as children we learn it from our immediate family.  Could it be because as youngsters they tell us the existence of a Santa Claus only to find out later in our young lives that this is a total fabrication.  So, if this is a lie then maybe all the other things that we have been told are also falsehoods.

Our view of things around us are colored through this lens of unbelief.  So it is with the things of God.  Just maybe this God that we cannot see is also a myth handed down throughout the ages of man.

A man by the name of Abram out on the plains with his wife is outside his tent one night and his visited by angels from God.  They begin to tell Abram something that seems out of the reach of possibility. They bring him a promise from God that like the sands on the ground so shall his seed be.  Like the stars that shine in the night sky so shall his descendants be.  Abram finds this something he cannot comprehend.  You see he is an old man at the age of ninety and his wife, Sarai, is in her eighties.  Even in today’s standards this would be laughable.

On another night again outside the tent Abram tells Sarai what the angels had told him.  Well, she must have thought her husband has gone mad. Her reaction was to laugh out loud at such a story.  Time passes by and she convinces Abram to sleep with Hagar.  This was Sarai way to bring the story to be. Yet, this was not God’s plan. Hagar does bring forth a son, not the promised seed, but nevertheless a child for Abram.

Now it is Sarai’s time for a special visitation, the angels tell her the same thing that they had told Abram many years before.  She asks the angels how is this possible, they tell her that with God all things are possible.  One day finally the promise is conceived and with due time brings forth Isaac, the promised son.

I must admit there are many happenings throughout the Scriptures like that of the one which took place in the life of Abram and Sarai.  The three largest religions trace their ancestry back to that old couple.

Our minds are finite and God’s is infinite so that it escapes our understanding.  I do not claim to understand the mysteries of God or His ways.  All I can do is have simple child like faith in Him. 

As a young child I can remember telling my mother that I would be a preacher and not go to school for it.  I didn’t have the mechanics of this figured out, I just knew deep within me that it would happen.

I have mentioned in past posts that I learned to sing by my grandfather’s side.  He would expect us to learn put to memory the words of the gospel songs. 

In 1975, Easter Monday, March 31st, my grandfather while at his work suffered a major heart attack and died on the spot.  When I woke up that morning I wondered why my mother had not woke us up for school.  I looked around the house and neither of my parents were home.  Some time had past when finally they arrived home.  I was twelve years old and somehow I could sense something was not alright with them.  Little did I realise that my small world would ever be the same.  Mom told us what had happened.  All I could do was run upstairs to my bedroom and cry.

My grandfather was my world of music. No not the music of someone like Johnny Cash, but rather the songs like that penned by Dottie Rambo. 

The whole week was a blur, and to add insult to injury the funeral was delayed due to bad winter weather around the Windsor, Ontario area.

I started to keep my feelings to myself and on the inside I grew angry.  Angry at a God that took my grandfather from my life.  I was learning the accordion, then one day I took my accordion and placed it by the trash can.  I no longer wanted to learn and lost interest in any type of singing.

Little do I comprehend what was in store for my life.  We moved from the town where we lived and moved directly into the city of Windsor, Ontario.  Once in awhile we would go to my home church but it was a struggle for everyone and especially for me.  I use to try and play the old out of tune piano in the church only to be told not to touch it by my grandfather.

I was encouraged to try to play the old upright of a piano but many Sunday nights I would walk away from it in tears.

One night after I had fallen asleep in my bed I had a dream.  At the end of the dream it was like a voice within me to pick up where my grandfather left off.  I did not understand any part of this dream.

It’s strange how God begins to weave His wonders in our lives.  Things began to take place and one thing led to another.  The girl I was dating in my high school years told me that her and her family were moving out of the area.  The amazing thing was this.  They gave me the old upright piano from their home for my own use.  Well I worked hard to save up money to have that old piano tuned.  I then would begin to sit down and work on my learning it.  Not from lessons, but from following my inner musical ear.

One night we attended my home church and my pastor who believed in prayer called me from the piano and prayed over my hands.  Well, as some would say, the rest is history.  It wasn’t long before I was asked by a evangelist to travel and be part of his music team.  From that I was able to travel most of my home country of Canada and also many parts of the United States.

I have written all that to say this, if all that could happen from something I thought was a disaster, then I can write today like the scripture tells us that the promises of God are Amen and Amen.

You might be going through what might be considered a total disaster in your life but I am writing to tell you don’t let the voices of doubt make you waiver from the very promises of God in your life.

Yes, even when facing the worst of death there can come from it a much promised breathed life in God.  Sometimes, we do not see why God is allowing us to face such trials and tribulations. Yet, like Abram and Sarai we must believe that what God has spoken He is faithful to bring it to pass.

The road in our life can sometimes take many twists and turns but if we are faithful to God, God will direct our footsteps.

Let me encourage to open the Scriptures to the Book of Job.  Read the story of his time of troubles, how he went through the valley of death but God brought him through to the other side.  The latter part of Job’s life was greater than his beginning.

So, when in doubt do this one thing, hold on tight.  It may be a rough ride, but the Master is on board the ship and you will make it to the other shore.