The Promises of God

While growing up, I was taught that promises should never be broken. Saying "I promise" was the acid test of honesty. Whenever an important issue arose, a typical dialogue would go as:

me: Did you lose my new ball?
my sis: No. I didn't even touch it.
me: do you promise?
my sis: silence....
me: LIAR LIAR LIAR

So sacred was a promise, that we were thought that we would receive all of Heaven's wrath if we broke a promise. So the "promise card" was only brought out during critical issues (which for a 10 year old happens to be the loss of a brand new tennis ball). It wasn't used for trivial issues like "did you take my candy".

Promises are important to everyone. Witnesses in court have to promise to tell the truth. Contracts are written promises. A credit card payment is a promise of future payback. Politicians make promises all the time. Promises are everywhere.

If us mere mortals can regard promises so highly, how much more then, will a holy and just God honour His promises?

The Bible, which is God's contract with man, is full of promises. Countless books have been written detailing the promises of God. We've heard them, we know them. For most of us, God's promises are written in our hearts. However, years of personal struggles, disappointment and discouragements have caused the dust of unbelief to settle on them, and the cobwebs of doubt to weave around them.

Just like spring cleaning brings out of hiding something that was once close to our hearts, this week God brought me back to His promises during my pastor's preaching last Friday.

When God makes a promise, He intends to keep it. If that promise hasn't come true in our lives, there are reasons for it. Whatever the reason is, it's not because God forgot, or that God just didn't care.

God remembers His promises down to every last detail, and He's constantly working to guide our way into receiving them. Finding the way to the promise takes some getting used to though. Nothing of value was ever attained easily.

Every promise of God will come to pass if we, in my pastor's words, simply be patient, and trust and obey.