We are familiar with a few of the poetic, prophetic words of Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have a dream…” and “I’ve seen the promised land…” As a Christian minister, King’s most lofty repetitions of God’s promises come from his sermons. His sermons were preached more than once at varying venues, so attributing times and places is not always accurate, but the following words were preached on Jan. 1, 1956, at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
His text was from Jude 24: “Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling…” “At the center of the Christian faith is the conviction that there is a God of Power in the universe who is able to do exceedingly abundant things in nature and history. This conviction is stressed over and over again in the Old and New Testaments.
“ Theological ly, it is expressed in the doctrine of the omnipotence of God. The God that we worship is not a weak and incompetent God. He is able to beat back gigantic waves of opposition and bring low prodigious mountains of evil. The ringing cry of the Christian faith is that God is able.”
Paul wrote to the Romans: The Lord is able to make you stand. To the Corinthians: God is able to bless you abundantly. To the Ephesians: Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. To Timothy: He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. To the Hebrews: He is able to help those who are being tempted. From James: There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.
The Book of Daniel tells how King Darius was tricked into issuing a command that condemned his faithful servant Daniel to be thrown into a den of lions.
That night, the king couldn’t sleep. At dawn, Darius hurried to the lion’s den and cried into it: “O Daniel, has your God been able to deliver you from the lions?”
In your unemployment, your worried spouse wants to know, “Is your God able to deliver you?” Your children, bullied in school, want to know, “Is God able to make my life better?” Your neighbor, whose wife has just died, asks of you, “Is God able to rebuild life?” Your friend, who has been incarcerated because of a careless accident, wants to know from you, “Is God able to deliver?” A nation, in tumult, from either war, or poverty, or ignorance, deep down wants to know, “Is God able to deliver?” In my heart I believe it is true—the desperate world wants to know from the Christian, “Is God able!”
Because the day of his honor approaches, hear again the answer of faith from Dr. King: “Yes, God is able to give us the interior resources to face the storms and problems of life. Go out this morning and let this affirmation be our ringing cry. It will give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom.
“When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a great benign Power in the universe whose name is God, and He is able to make a way out of no way, and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.
“This is our hope for becoming better [people]. This is our mandate for seeking to make a better world.”
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