Psalm 30:5b. …weeping may endure for a night, but joy (a shout of joy) comes in the morning.
Another Sunday has rolled around warm and fairly sunny friends, and thus it behooves us to go the Lord’s sanctuary and have our souls, bodies and minds renewed and refreshed, through hearing His Word and giving Him thanks and praise for His goodness to His wayward and disobedient children whom He still LOVES so dearly. And is it ever to our great benefit that we experience His unconditional LOVE! That’s for sure!
So, today, in appreciation for God’s great compassion, we will open with a song of praise and genuine encouragement for all of us who are finding it difficult to keep our faith strong in these terrible strife-filled times. And the title of the song is ‘Hold On, Hold on (Better Must Come One Day).’ It’s a song done by Jamaican Canadian Gospel Artist, George Banton from His 2002 Album, ‘Jesus will fix it for You.’
Now, there’s also a ska version of the song, but for our purposes today we need to get really soulful, to allow the music and the words to come up right from our hearts, from the very core of our beings, with the soul that our forefathers felt when they were toiling in the boiling sun, but praising and worshipping a God who seemed to have forgotten them in their abject misery. But their faith was strong, they acknowledged Him faithful who had promised, and so they stood strong and held on, just like we’re doing today, because we know that better must come. The Lord promised it, and He doesn’t lie.
So, let’s offer up our sweet sacrifices of praise in a truly soulful and sincere version of the song. Singing: ‘You know in each life, a little rain must fall, and sometimes the darkest night is just before dawn. I’m here to tell you, hold on, hold on, better must come one day. Oh let me tell you children, hold on, hold on, better must come one day. I woke up this morning, with sunshine on my mind, but as I looked through my window, there were clouds all over the land. Then I thanked the Lord for giving me another day.
And when I opened my eyes, there was sunshine everywhere, telling me to hold on, hold on, better must come someday. The clouds were all rolled away, yes they did, And I’m here to tell you, Oh I just can’t keep it to myself now, I’ve gotta tell somebody else, to hold on, hold on, better must come one day. Hold on till the end, and don’t give up now, I know your change is going to come, like the clouds give way to the sun.
Whenever you’re down and out, and you have no one around, remember this song, telling you to be strong. Let me tell you children, hold on, hold on, better must come one day. The sun will shine, yes it will! So, go tell your friend, go tell your mama, tell your sister about it, tell your daddy, to hold on, hold on, better must come one day.
And sometimes when you feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, and happiness is nowhere in sight. But I’m here to tell you that trouble don’t last always, behind each dark cloud there’s a silver lining. Yeh, let me tell you children, hold on, hold on, better must come one day, better will come, I know, Oh I know it will, Hey, hey, you’d better hold on, hold on, for better must come one day.
I’d like to share this with every man, every woman, with every boy and every girl. Let me tell you, you’d better hold on. I don’t know about you nuh, but sometimes I get a little weak, yes, I’ve been there, and know that the sun will shine again, so I’m holding on, and you’d better hold on too, hold on, for better must come one day, Yes hold on, hold on, for better must come one day…better must come one day…’
Oh friends, the Lord promised it, and He doesn’t lie. It’s as the prophet Balaam said to King Balak who wanted him to curse Israel, but the Lord would not allow it. ‘God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?’ (Num. 23:19)
Of course! If He said it, He will indeed do it! That’s why in the Hall of Fame chapter 11 of Hebrews; the author could write: ‘Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of (bore) a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who hath promised.’ (Heb. 11:11) And that’s one of the necessities of faith. As the author of Hebrews earlier wrote: ‘But without faith it is impossible to please him (God): for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’ (Heb. 11:6)
Consequently as believers in Almighty God, we need to hold on faithfully to the promises He’s given us in His Word, as well as those given to us individually, or we’ll never see them come true. That’s why we need to steadfastly hold on, though things and times look bad, for bad times don’t last forever. For as Bruh David says in Psalm 30: ‘weeping may endure for a night, but joy (a shout of joy) comes in the morning.’ (Ps. 30:5b)
And that’s the gospel truth friends. The nighttime might bring fears and worries, but when the daylight appears, our fears and worries don’t ever seem half as bad. And we know that after the rain comes the sunshine which makes everything look so much brighter. As the song says: ‘trouble don’t last always, behind each dark cloud there’s a silver lining.’ And that means better must come, so we cannot afford to give up, especially since there’s no giving up in Jesus’ vocabulary.
No! We need to keep on keeping on in faith, for as this magnificent promise of God tells us: ‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that LOVE God, to them who are called according to his purpose.’ (Rom. 8:28) Yes friends, that says it all! Life is not all comfort and good times; that’s just the way of the world. However, when times get rough and there seems to be no relief in sight, if we hang in there in faith, the Lord will eventually see us through them all, because that’s His promise and as Sarah found out, he who promised is faithful.
So, in these tough and uncertain times, let’s hold on, hold on for dear life, and also encourage each other, for as the Lord God Jehovah said so long ago: ‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’ (Is. 41:10) Now that ought to keep us strong and steadfast in our earthly work for Christ! Much LOVE!
…in the words of Dr. Robert H. Schuller…tough times don’t last…but tough people do…therefore, Christians must get tough…if they want to see these tough times through…
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