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How Firm is Your Foundation?

The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
—John Keith

I love these words and what they represent. They sound too good to be true, but they are the absolute truth for all of us who belong to God.
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:33-35).

God’s word is full of promises as He forms a covenant relationship with those who belong to Him. A covenant is unbreakable. I imagine that those were the thoughts ruminating in John Keith’s mind when he wrote this hymn in the 1700s. They are words that are true and form the firmest foundation we can have on this earth. True, yet rarely practiced.

Why are we so insecure? With so firm a foundation, why don’t we walk in complete faith, joy and peace? In my case, it is because I do not fully live out this reality. Rather, I notice and focus on what makes me feel insecure. It’s not that my worry can do anything to make things better in any way. Somehow, I find comfort in remaining distressed, doubtful and dumbfounded by what is ahead for me.

It’s so hard for us humans to conceive how firm of a foundation God has provided for us through faith in Jesus Christ. We seem to trust insecurity more than His guarantee. We seem to look ahead for what we want to avoid, rather than for the steps that God mapped out for us to walk through on a firm foundation.

When I took my first skiing lesson, the instructor told us a nugget of truth that applies to faith. He said, “Look where you want to go not where you don’t want to go, and your skis will follow.” We who belong to God have the assurance that God will never leave us, that He is constantly interceding for us, that He does not condemn us, nor can we be separated from His love. Therefore shouldn’t we expect to walk firmly through the realities of living in a sin-filled world?

If I can keep in mind that I am not condemned, I am not alone. I have a God who loves me and will never leave nor forsake me; then I should walk each day believing there will be a firm place to step. I may need to pray about how to move forward because sometimes the firm way is not easy to see until the Holy Spirit tells me to go to the right or to the left, but there is a firm way to walk every day in love, joy, peace and goodness.

 

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