Yes and Amen

 As a lot of you know, Baptist Celebrity (if there's such a thing) Henry Blackaby died this last Sunday.  He was 88.  We didn't know if he was sick, the obituary just said he 'died peacefully'. We had just read his morning devotional in his famous book "Experiencing God Day by Day" when we noticed the news.


I won't say we were friends, but we knew him.  We'd even shared a private conversation or two. I don't think we in any way changed his life, but he certainly influenced ours.  The devotional on the day he died, was from 2nd Corinthians 1:20. “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”


Henry talked about when we walk in intimate fellowship with Christ, we have the assurance that every PROMISE God has made in Scripture is available to us, within God’s wisdom and timing.


I don’t know about you, but I find this Corinthians Scripture comforting.  I have this bad habit sometimes, when we interact with our children and friends, of transferring my worries and fears to them, resulting in what has been called “scenario-ing”. A tough word to say, but it comes so easily! And the result is nearly always a case of the heebie-jeebies, when my wild “what ifs” lead inevitably to bad endings. Just about 100% of the time, those scenarios never transpire, but I keep making them up and worrying about them. This, I realize, is a case of forgetting all those promises, not trusting God and in fact is SIN.


The apostle Paul claimed (Blackaby went on to say) that he had tested each of these promises in his own life and found them all to be abundantly true.  That’s why he could speak of the “exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7b).


I think Henry died satisfied with all the wonders that God had given him. I know the world benefited by his writings.


On the home front, everything is “Yes and Amen” as Tony continues to heal from the knee replacement.  He preached perched on a stool this morning, the first time in 55 years of preaching. He said it was really “off-putting” and is counting the days til the crutches go out the window. But at the same time, he was so so grateful that he was able to bring the message at all; resting in the promises, able to do what he was called to do, and doing what gives him real joy and a sense of purpose. 


What promises are yours today?


God Bless you all, 


Marsha

 


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