ABLE TO KEEP
Helen Wannenmacher

Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age. 
—Matthew 28:20


The one who penned these words was possessed of a holy calm, a confidence born of God that nothing could alter or destroy, for he had made a commitment of himself to God which was both thrilling and complete. It was a reckless abandonment unto God of all that he was or ever hoped to be, including all his days and all his ways, his going out and his coming in, his joys and his sorrows, his losses and his gains, amid perils of every sort and persecutions even in the face of death. And this commitment would hold until that day when he should stand in the presence of the One he loved supremely and for Whom he had suffered the loss of all things. His very love for God and the knowledge he had of Him gave him this confidence that He would keep all that he had committed unto Him against that day.Should we not ask ourselves in all sincerity, "How much have I really committed unto God? Have I given Him all my life with all its plans, all my days, and all my ways?" There could be no safer place to go nor a more wonderful One to trust. It will afford us quietness and confidence in days of stress and strength for every need; for He takes upon himself the responsibility of every case committed unto Him.

Paul the apostle would then tell us, as he did the Hebrew Christians, "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry" (Hebrews 10:35?37). "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end" (Hebrews 3:14). Since we are so very much closer now to that day, when He shall appear, how very necessary it is that our hearts should be filled with love and confidence toward Him as we wait for His coming.

John, the beloved apostle, has a tender word of admonition for us, "And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming" (I John 2:28). 

In this our day, when fear abounds on every hand (even as we walk our own familiar streets), let us, "Be not afraid of sudden fear . . . for the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken" (Proverbs 3:25-26). And let us remember always, that "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge" (Proverbs 14:26). For "he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). Shall we not then sing with confidence that lovely chorus:



So, until then, my heart shall go on singing, 
Until then, with joy I'll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the city
Until the day God calls me home.


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