Standing on the promises of Christ my king.

Through eternal ages let His praises ring.

Glory in the highest I will shout and sing!

I am standing on the promises of God.

“Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands” (Deut. 7:9 NLT).

Understand This!

My uncle, FG had been our Sunday School teacher since as far back as I could remember. Although he and my dad had been forced, by the demands of farm life, to end their formal schooling much too soon, they were two of the most brilliant men I have ever known. Freeland Grandford Sumner, Jr., my dad’s oldest brother, was born in 1916 when Woodrow Wilson, one of the nation’s most racist presidents and a defender of the Ku Klux Klan, was in office.

Uncle F, as we called him, had encountered many barriers, endured much racial discrimination, and garnered a wealth of experience in the process of his forty-something years at the time. He was a no-nonsense gentleman who would quickly set anyone straight around him at work or wherever he was, if they disrespected him by trying to tell inappropriate jokes or used foul language. He loved teaching Sunday school and would often pause while reading a particular verse and say, “There is a sermon in that!” While explaining, he occasionally smiled and said, “Now the devil don’ like nothing like this.”

Uncle F did not just teach the material; he wanted us to understand what he was teaching. Hearing was good; knowing was better, but He wanted us to internalize it and act on it. “Don’t just sit there and look at me but understand this!” Those scriptures in which he saw so many sermons were about the One who is indeed God, the one and only God. He wanted us to understand that man will fail you, even the president, as President Wilson has demonstrated, could be racist, but you can always stand on the promises of God. All we had to do was to love Him and obey His commands. So, we sang:

Standing on the promises that cannot fail.

Though the howling storms of doubt and fears assail,

Through the living word of God, I shall prevail.

I am standing on the promises of God.

Standing! Standing! I am standing on the promises of God!

  Focus Quote: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV).