Certain Promises

Abraham. He's kind of a big deal -- not just to the Christians, but to the Jews and the Muslims as well. He was talked about a lot in Genesis, and all through the Old Testament. But, the New Testament continues to lift him up. Abraham was a giant in the faith, and even made it to the Hall of Fame for the giants of the faith in Hebrews 11. He's an incredible example to all of us.

God told him to leave his home and his people, and just go. When he got there, God would tell him ... and Abraham did.

God told him he'd be given a son, and land, and many descendants in the Abrahamic promise. It was a surety in God's economy.

But, it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. The promise of a son took 25 years of waiting. 25 years. Of waiting. It had become an impossibility. Abraham was 100, and Sarah was 90. But their son was born. A son was given!

I have to wonder what Abraham and Sarah were like during those 25 years. Did they get discouraged? Did they continue to hold on to God's promises even though everything around them told them it was impossible? We do know that they tried to take matters in their own hands (see Hagar) and created a real mess for themselves and for future generations. This leads me to believe that Abraham and Sarah were real people ... like me. Real people who have real struggles and real doubt.

But, even with the doubts and the struggles, Abraham hung on. For all he was worth! And he had the extreme privilege of being able to hold that promised son in his old, weary arms.

The second part of the promise was that Abraham's family would have this land. It seems to me that this promise was never seen with Abraham's fleshly eyes. He never built a house, never had a front yard to mow, never had walls to paint. He lived in a tent and was a sojourner all his life. The only amount of property he ever bought was a burial plot for his wife Sarah.

What's up with that? Did God lie? Was He playing a cruel joke? Yet, we see that Abraham believed. He believed God and took it to heart. "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." (Romans 4:3)

Get this. Abraham didn't see the end result of the promise. That actually happened over 300 years later before the Israelites took the promised land for their own. But he held on to it as a promise, as a certainty. He had absolute and total faith that God would do what He promised. He had seen it before (in the birth of his son Isaac) and he knew God would do it again.

What about me? How do I do with God's promises?

Whenever I'm starting to doubt or be discouraged that God might not come through this time, I know that I need to once again get back to the bedrock of my faith, to once again focus on the truths that I know stand firm. And what's that?

** That God loves me.

    ** That God is good, sovereign and in control.

        ** That God will do for my best and His glory.

I might not understand it all. It might not turn out the way I had planned. But my God is faithful. Just like He didn't take Abraham to a different country and leave him high and dry, so He won't with me. He hasn't brought me to this place, to this time, just to leave me to fend on my own. His promises have always stood and will continue to stand.

God WILL do what He has promised, according to 2 Peter 3:9. I just need to remember that what He has promised often doesn't look like what I had hoped for or planned, but He will use my current circumstances for my good and His glory. Always there. Always working. Always loving me. 

Like Abraham, I choose to hold on for all I am worth. I know Him. I know He is faithful, and I can trust Him to do what He promises.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 

Hebrews 10:23