Today I was looking at something online and I saw a mention
of the Paul Simon song American Tune. It’s a song from a ways back, one which I am fairly
certain I hadn’t heard in a long time, but I knew that the melody and fragments
of the lyrics were embedded in my memory.
So, living in the time that we do, I found the song on YouTube
and had a listen. The oldest version was
from 1974, which reminded me that it was on the album he released that year, an
album I acquired when it was issued, when I was a senior in high school.
I listened to the song once today and fragments of it have
replayed through my mind since. Of these
fragments, one line stands out:
“We come at the age’s
most uncertain hour”
And that brought to mind how quickly our circumstances, or our
view of life as we live in a particular moment, can shift from certainty to
uncertainty.
I am not an astute enough student of poetry to understand what,
if anything, Simon may have been singing about in particular. In 1974 our country was still entangled in
Viet Nam. The Nixon administration was
unraveling. Quite likely there were other
things were going on in the world that could evoke feelings of uncertainty as
well.
I think that every “age” has its uncertainties. The news today is full of things that have unknown
implications for the future. The presidential
election is an obvious one. Another is today’s
report of a significant melting of the ice sheet in Greenland. The
recent tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, where in an instant the relative certainty
of an evening at the movies changed, permanently affecting the lives of everyone
present in the theater.
Despite the things that may occur that bring uncertainty
into our lives there are some things that never change, things that we may
count on no matter what our circumstances are or what the world is telling
us. These are the promises of God,
spoken through the Bible. I’m studying
one of them today in preparation for a sermon in two weeks. In John 6:40 Jesus says:
“For
this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes
in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
This promise of God, spoken through Jesus, is that those who
have faith in him also have eternal security with God. It is a security that transcends each and every
uncertainty of our lives. It is a security
that transcends time. No matter what
happened yesterday, what happens today, or what will happen tomorrow, the
Christian can be assured that God’s grasp on them is firm. It is the certain thing that will endure
every uncertainty.
Scripture quotations
are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by
Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.
All rights reserved.
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