The Promises of God

God’s promises are something I have been reflecting on this week.  God is a promise-keeping God; if he said it, he will do it.

God is faithful and never breaks his promises; in this we have to trust and have patience.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes when things don’t happen in my ideal timing I try and take matters into my own hands and it doesn’t always turn out that great.

I was reminded of the story of Abraham and Sarah.  In Genesis we read that God promises Abraham that he and Sarah would have a child. When God made this promise, Abraham was 99 years old!

Genesis 17:3-7

3 “Abram fell face down, and God said to him, 4 As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram[b]; your name will be Abraham, [c] for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you”

God made a covenant with Abraham, which is a promise between God and humanity. In this passage we see God promised to make Abraham the father of many nations. At this stage Abraham didn’t have any of his own children.

But later on God promises that his wife Sarah will have her own son.  However, if you carry on reading the passage you see that Sarah takes matters into her own hands.  She was impatient and gave Abraham her slave, Hagar, to bear him a child.  In the end things didn’t work out very well; Hagar ran away with her son and despised Sarah.  But God was true to his promise and in the end Abraham and Sarah had their own son, Isaac.

We see throughout the Old Testament that God made lots of promises to his people, but the Israelite's weren’t very good at keeping their side of the promises.  In the end God, because he loves us so much and wants to have relationship with us, gave the ultimate promise by sending his own son.

Reflecting on the Old Testament, the Israelite's messed up time and after time.  We mess up too, but God still loves us, and he is faithful.

So, over the last few moments your life might have been turned upside down, because mine certainly has been. But throughout it all I hold onto the fact the God is faithful and he keeps his promises to me. The promises he says to me aren’t always like the promises we see he gave to Abraham but they are promises that I hold onto.

Deuteronomy 31:6

6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Hold onto God’s promises.

One song I have found a really encouragement during this time is this song called Promises by Maverick City: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5m09rqOoxE

Love Lauren