Sunday, January 18, 2009

Through the Love of God our Savior

But now, says the Lord, Your creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flame scorch you, for I am your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” Isaiah 43:1-3a

Because of this promise from God, given to us through the prophet Isaiah, we, along with all the saints and this hymn writer, can sing “All must be well.” Not in a trite, “it will all work out” or “this too shall pass” way – but with complete confidence and trust in our Living God who has redeemed us and called us by name.

Through the Love of God our Savior
Words by Mary B. Peters

Through the love of God our Savior,
All will be well;
Free and changeless is His favor;
All, all is well.
Precious is the blood that healed us;
Perfect is the grace that sealed us;
Strong the hand stretched out to shield us;
All must be well.

God’s love for us is so great that He redeemed us with the precious blood of His son, Jesus. His love and favor are great and changeless.

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21-23

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8

Though we pass through tribulation,
All will be well;
Ours is such a full salvation;
All, all is well.
Happy still in God confiding,
Fruitful, if in Christ abiding,
Holy through the Spirit’s guiding,
All must be well.

As we saw in Isaiah, God has promised to be with us as we pass through tribulation. God never promises that we won’t have troubles, in fact, as Christians, it is one of the things we are guaranteed of! What He does promise is that He will be with us, and we will not be overcome by the waters, or burned by the flame.

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. Psalm 9:10

Especially when we are walking in tribulation, we must draw close to God and abide in Him. His will is that our lives would produce fruit, and that is only possible when we are abiding in Him.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5

We expect a bright tomorrow;
All will be well;
Faith can sing through days of sorrow,
All, all is well.
On our Father’s love relying,
Jesus every need supplying,
Or in living, or in dying,
All must be well.

We can expect a bright tomorrow because of what Paul reminds us of in Romans 8: If God is for us, who can be against us? We must rely on His love, love that we can never be separated from, and trust Christ to supply all our needs, so that in living or in dying, we can sincerely say, “All must be well.”

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
"FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Sara. I stumbled upon your site and really like the devotional nature of it. I was personally blessed and inspired. I was wondering if you've thought about making a subscription button available so people can subscribe through email, cause I'd love to subscribe to it. If you check out my blog you can see what I'm talking about. It's provided by feedburner.com

Cheers!

Jan said...

Hi Sara, this was a blessing. I came upon this searching for the hymn. The hymn included is on of my favorite.

Thanks and every blessing

Janet