Streams of Mercy

One of my special joys in ministry through the years has been participating in the work of Presbyterian Women, especially the yearly Horizon Bible Study. This year’s study is “God’s Promise: I Am With You.”

This study will be a journey through scripture, tracing the repetition of God’s most frequent promise– “I am with you.” The promise is spoken to individuals and communities from the time of the Patriarchs to the prophets; from the judges to the kings; before, during and after the exile; into the New testament and beyond, to the end of the age! As Jesus ascends to heaven, he speaks the words of promise one last time, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)

From month to month, we are challenged to “pluck post-it-note reminders” of God’s promise, as it “wends its way through scripture.” Most importantly, we are challenged to consider how the promise speaks into our circumstances, and has always been a “post it note reminder” of God’s faithfulness to us. How has God been with us and blessed us, wherever we have gone?” God’s “I will be with you” promise is very often accompanied by the reassurance, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

In Lesson One, we followed the promise from Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. Reading the story of Jacob’s Dream at Bethel in Genesis 28, and hearing his affirmation: “Surely the Lord is in the place and I did not know it,” we were challenged to remember such times in our own lives and share our “hindsight testimony” of God’s faithful promises made and kept! Throughout this year of study, we are challenged to put in place our own “post-it-note reminders of God’s promise” seen in looking back over our individual journeys of life and faith.

We noted that God’s promise to Jacob has four parts: “I am with you; I will keep you; I will bring you back; I will not leave you.” All present were asked to consider which part of the promise speaks to them most in their current circumstance.

“If God will accompany Isaac and Jacob and the whole cast of characters we will encounter in this study, then God will accompany us. Even us. Because God’s promise is not based on our merit, but on God’s grace. Not on our faith, but on God’s faithfulness.”

May the Spirit open our eyes to the abiding presence of God in the day-to-day of wherever we are! Giving thanks for God’s faithful promise to be with us always, and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing…

Elizabeth