For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
“You just call out my name, and you know wherever I am, I’ll come running.” These are comforting lyrics to the James Taylor song, You’ve Got A Friend. Friends are great and they are generally reliable in a pinch but not one friend can say these words of Good News that Isaiah gave to Israel. This is a promise, first of calamity, from Assyria and then Babylon, but also that they’ve got a Lord. His is not a fickle love like ours but a steadfast love that never changes. Our promises are tenuous wishful thinking but God’s covenant shall never be removed. Even their unfaithfulness cannot move it. It is solid because our God is a merciful God who loves us and promises salvation for us.
Come to Cape Community Church tomorrow as we see how God kept 340 promises, including this one, in a manger in Bethlehem. The lives of the people were turned upside down but Jesus was born to make the way straight again for his people to follow him. The new covenant in the blood of Jesus also cannot be moved because it was decreed by the Father, initiated by the blood of the Son, and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Our lives may be turned upside down but we can still look up and see the light of the world come to save us.
Dear Lord, thank you for the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, in a dark world. Help us to shine that light this Christmas when things look upside down. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church