Hanging On His Words

…because all the people were hanging on his words. Luke 19:48

They hung on his words.

He said as long as he is running the company, he will take care of their family.

They just came from the Philippines to the United States and the boss came to their apartment to assure that the company or him will do whatever it takes for the family to hurdle this new start of life. He was thinking twice in pursuing his employment with them since the company was small and was given a salary not enough to feed the family and pay the rent of the apartment. This salary grade was even noted by the boss. From that day on, they hung on his words. From that night, the family held tight on his promise. He was getting calls from headhunters left and right, by email or by social media messages but turned them all down because he was hanging on his words.

After three years, he laid him off. Not because he was performing poorly, in fact he was not. The boss even repeated, what he always tells him, that he sees himself in the employee the way he worked hard for their company. For whatever reason he may have, which up to now he doesn’t clearly understand, they hung on his words and his words let them down.

Life is full of these stories.

You heard him or her say, “Till death do us part.”, yet now he or she is filing for a divorce. Your father told you he’ll come to your school activity however up until the end you did not see his shadows. Or a girlfriend for a decade suddenly dumps you through a text message. Or a friend who gave his words that when you need them most, he takes them back. You hung on their words and they let you down.

Any man’s words will let you down at some point. And boy, isn’t it comforting, Jesus is not only a man, but first and foremost — he is God.

You can hang on his words. You can hold on to his promises. He says he’ll die for you, he did. He says he will rise for you, his tomb is empty. He says his love is eternal, look at the cross. He says come out and walk on the water, focus your eyes on Peter. He says feed my sheep, offer your lunch. Everything works out for our good, wait and see. You can do all things through him who strengthens you, you can and no exceptions. He says, you’ll get the job, you’re now on your 8th month with the company. He says this, hang on to this. He says that, hang on to that.

He will not disappoint. He will never let you down. You hold tightly. He holds more tightly.

Hang on his words.