Sometimes you have to get through today the best you can and trust tomorrow to the Lord.”
–Elmer Kelton (Badger Boy)
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”
–Ephesians 3:20(NKJV)
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“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
–Hebrews 7:25(NKJV)
There is a hymn that we sing quite often at our church when it is altar time. It is primarily a song of invitation for sinners to come to Christ, but I want to look from a different perspective the chorus of the song.
“Only trust Him, only trust Him, only trust Him now;
He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.”
–John H. Stockton
Yes, it is definitely a call to salvation, but keep in mind the above verse. “He is able to save to the uttermost.” We are saved when we come to Christ and accept Him as our Lord and Savior, but what about life? Does life interfere with our walk, or does He truly indeed “save to the uttermost”?
After salvation we are kept by the Holy Spirit. It is a part of salvation, it is the keeping power of that work. We are saved not only for that moment in time, but throughout our lives as we walk with the Lord. Salvation to the uttermost–not only saved from the wages of sin which is death, but saved from the chains and bondage of sin. He is faithful as we try to be faithful. Someone said that to the uttermost means that, “Virtues will grow where once the lusts were so deeply rooted.” This part of salvation (call it sanctification, if you wish) is not the work of a moment, but a lifelong process.
Most of us have had moment(s) of being saved from something. Perhaps a serious car accident, maybe a deadly illness we were confronted with. Saved by the hand of the Lord is the only way to explain it. Only trust Him to save you now. I can point to several instances in my life where the Lord saved me from a grave situation. So not only are we saved for eternity, but throughout our life we are being saved from one calamity or circumstance to another.
There was a song written a few years back by Pat Alger and made popular by Garth Brooks, “Unanswered Prayers.” In that song there is the phrase, “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” Many times we pray amiss. We pray selfishly, and often not really meaning to, but not seeing the complete picture. God is omniscient, He sees the future and the path that might be. We might complain, we try to persuade God that we know better, and many times we do not listen to His direction. . . but then He saves us from who knows what by an unanswered prayer.
He saves us when we are weak, when we are in despair, when we are downcast and low in spirit. Remember the words He spoke to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you…” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Sufficient to bear this torment in the flesh, sufficient to bear this burden on your mind, sufficient to bear this weight on your spirit, sufficient to bear this perplexity in your emotions. “Only trust Him!” When do we trust? Now! In whatever situation you find yourself, know that God is there with you. “In the past we are saved from the penalty of sin; in the present we are being saved from the power of sin; and in the future we will be saved from the presence of sin.”