God’s Great Promise

We know that the Bible is chockful of promises from beginning to end – promises of His faithfulness and protection, provision, and presence. Promises to fight for us, to come near when we are broken, and to be our shield and sword in the heat of battle. Most of all, He promises salvation and eternal life and an eternal home with Him. All these promises are wrapped up in one beautiful statement: “I will be your God” (Genesis 17:7). And our faith finds its security in that promise.
That was what He told Abraham when He declared a covenant with the patriarch of the Hebrew people. He promised to make him “the father of many nations” (v. 4), to make him very fruitful (v. 6), and to give him the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession for himself and his descendants (v. 8). And He promised the old, childless man a son (v. 16). Then He put His seal on all those promises by saying “I will be your God.”
One of the most important lessons the Lord has been driving home to me in recent years is to trust Him. “For what?” you ask. First, that He will be God. That He is faithful. That He is good. That He is trustworthy and righteous in all His ways. That He will never change or contradict Himself. That He is completely holy. That His Word is true because He is Truth.
And from that foundation, I trust He will be my God. That He will love me with unfailing love (Is 54:10) and show me everlasting kindness (v. 8). That He will never leave me nor forsake me (Jos 1:5). That He will carry me (Is 46:4) and give me rest (Matt 11:28), peace (Jn 14:27), and Joy (Ps 16:11) in Him.
When I trust in His promise to be my God, it is enough. Because He is enough. I have staked my life on that promise. I believe that is the heart and soul of faith. When my life is hard, I return to that assurance: “I am your God.”
I could (and want to) go on and on and on. But most of all I want you to know that He will be your God too, if you trust in His Son. That Beloved, is a promise you can rest in.

Promises, Promises

The Lord is trustworthy in all He promises and faithful in all He does” (Psalm 145:13).
Sarah and Rebekah, both have stories marked by the power of God. They both saw God move in wonderful and amazing ways, in impossible situations. Wouldn’t you think they, of all people, would trust God completely? Yet Sarah and Rebekah doubted God would keep His promises. Honest confession, so have I. God has made promises to me and circumstances made those promises seem impossible. I am as guilty as my ancient sisters of falling to a lack of faith. They manipulated people and things to “help” God. I have as well.
The Bible assures us that “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Charles Spurgeon says, “God keeps His promises before He makes them.” Think about that. When God makes a promise, it is as good as done no matter how the situation looks. God can be trusted to fulfill what He has promised.
Now think about what God has promised to you. Can you see the thing coming into reality right now? Probably not. Does that mean that God will fail to keep His promise? Absolutely not. It means you need to keep your eyes on Him and not on the circumstances. It means God is going to do something amazing before your eyes. In fact, the more impossible the situation looks, the bigger the miracle to bring it to fulfillment. And you don’t want to miss that do you?
Beloved, you and I do not have to doubt that God will keep His promises. We also don’t have to scheme and plot and manipulate to bring God’s promises to fruition. It is completely His job and He doesn’t need any help from us. Anything you and I may accomplish by our feeble actions will be empty and vain. Everything God does to accomplish His promises will be extraordinary and beyond our wildest expectations. I know this from His Word and from my own experience. When I stand aside in faith and let God be God, He blows my mind!
Our only response to God’s promises should be “May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38) as we wait – not in frustration and doubt – but in eager anticipation. God is faithful, Beloved. He will not fail you. He always keeps His Word.

Life from Death

What has died in your life? Your future goals? Your plans? Your hopes? Your dreams? Your faith? You sit there staring at this thing that you built your life around as its heart slowly stops beating. What do you do now? Where do you go from here? Why should you even try anymore? I’m not talking about simple everyday disappointments; I’m talking about those soul-crushing things that drain your hope and leave you empty. And I’m talking from experience. I’ve been in those places; I’ve felt the heart-rending pain. I buried my hopes and dreams – and yes – for a time, I even buried my faith.

But the God who planted those hopes and dreams in my heart is also the God who brings life from death. Abraham understood that – God had made promises to him that centered on his son Isaac, then God asked him to put his son on an altar of sacrifice. Abraham didn’t understand God’s plan, but he knew God would never make a promise He didn’t intend to fulfill. He knew that whatever God had in mind by making this request of him, He would still be faithful to the promise of descendants – coming from the very son over whom he now held a knife. The author of Hebrews wrote, “By faith, Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead” (Heb 11:19).

I’m sure you know the story, and if not check out Genesis 22. God stayed Abraham’s hand and brought Isaac from the brink of death. God fulfilled His good promise. The thought the Spirit brings to mind is not that Isaac had to die, but that Abraham’s dependence on Isaac had to die. Abraham had to put all his hopes in God, not in his son. Now, the question for you and me is, what are we depending on? A hefty bank account? A great job? Social status? A college degree? (That one is for me.) Who are we depending on? A spouse? Children? Parents? A significant other? A good lawyer?

God had to put to death some things that I was building my life around. He had to break my dependence on things and people so that all I had left to depend on was Him. It wasn’t intended to bring me pain; it was to bring life out of death. It was to let the perishable die so that the imperishable could live. Beloved, in God’s hands is life – everlasting and abundant. You can trust Him with your hopes and dreams. You can trust Him with your heart.

Jerusalem

God called a man named Abram to “Leave your country, your people, and your household and go to the land I will show you.” He promised to make Abram “a great nation . . . and a blessing to all the peoples on earth” (Gen 12: 1-3). Why Abram? Simply because he was God’s sovereign choice. Abram and his wife Sarai obeyed the Lord and set out for an unknown destination. God changed their names to Abraham and Sarah and promised them a child of their own. But after twenty-five years and no baby, she insisted that Abraham sleep with her servant Hagar who would bear a son for Sarah. This they did and they were pleased with the boy named Ishmael. Until.

Sarah miraculously conceived in their very old age – she 90 and he 100 and gave birth to Isaac, the promised child of the Lord. Abraham sent Hagar and Ismael away to protect Isaac’s inheritance. And this is the root of the unrest in the Middle East and the hatred for Israel. The nations that descended from Ishmael – the Arab and Muslim nations today – contend that as Abraham’s firstborn son, he – and thus they – are the rightful heirs to the land God gave his father, the territory of Palestine. But Isaac’s son, Jacob – renamed Israel – and his descendants are heirs to the land according to the Lord.

But the war on Israel goes even deeper than Isaac and Ishmael. It goes back to the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned, God declared the destruction of satan through the “seed” of the woman: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Gen 3:15). One of Eve’s sons – Seth – was the line through whom Abraham and the nation of Israel came. A Jewish baby – a descendant of Seth and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob/Israel was born. Jesus, who is also the Son of God is the seed of the woman from Genesis 3:15. Until his birth, satan used Israel’s enemies to try to obliterate the Jewish people and stop his destroyer from coming. (See Pharoah’s attempt to kill all the Jewish baby boys and the story of Esther.) But He came anyway. Satan thought he had won when Jesus died and was buried, but He came back to life. Prophecy declares that He will come back again and complete the destruction of satan which God proclaimed way back in the Garden. But the Jewish temple – which the Romans destroyed in 70 AD – must be rebuilt on its original site in Jerusalem before He returns (See Rev. 11). That site is the current location of the Islamic Dome of the Rock – the Muslim’s most holy temple.  

Satan is still trying to destroy the Jewish people – the nation of Israel – to prevent the rebuilding of the temple – and Christ’s return. That is why we must “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6). It is about so much more than a strip of land in the Middle East. It is about the return of the Lord, the destruction of evil, and the ushering in of Christ’s eternal rule and reign. Don’t be afraid of what you see in the world, Beloved. God has not lost control. Not even for a second.

Promise Keeper

Have you ever had someone break a promise to you? I am sure you have, and so have I. It’s part of life in this fallen world. But we have a God who always keeps His promises. Jeremiah declared of the Lord: “He has done just as He said He would” (Jer 40:3).

He promised the first man and woman that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. They ate and became mortal with death in their future. He promised Noah that he and his family would be rescued from the terrible flood that destroyed all life on earth. And they were. He promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations and that his people would have a land of their own. Israel is the fulfillment of that promise. He promised to rescue Abraham’s descendants from slavery and 2 million plus Hebrew people marched out of Egypt and across a dry seabed between walls of water and into freedom. The Bible is replete with God’s promises and His fulfillment of them – to the nation of Israel and to the world.

Here is another promise God made: “He will crush your head . . .” (Gen 3:15). This promise is spoken to the evil one, the devil, satan himself – the one who threw all of humanity into chaos and sin. God promised to send Someone who would bring divine justice and break the enemy’s hold over humanity.  He was true to His Word. Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise.  

He also promised rest. Jesus said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). He wasn’t necessarily talking about physical rest, although David declared that God leads him to restful places to be restored (Ps 23:2-3). In this context He was speaking of spiritual rest – He promises us rest for our souls. You and I are sinners and the penalty of our sin is condemnation – eternal death. The heart of the gospel is that Christ bore the burden of our condemnation on the cross. He gives us rest from our burden and rest from trying to atone for our own sins.

Paul said, “No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ” (2 Cor 1:20). Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises God has made. Do you believe Him, Beloved? Do you trust the Promise-Keeper?

Acts: God Opens the Door

Acts 15 is one of the most pivotal chapters in the book, I would even say in the entire Bible. It is a huge hinge point for the church.

From the time of Abraham, one thing set the Hebrew people apart. Circumcision – the cutting away of the male foreskin. It was a rite that God commanded to identify Israel as His people. Gentiles – anyone who was not a Jew – were not circumcised unless they choose to fully convert to Judaism.

When Jesus told His disciples that they would be His witnesses “In Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8), they never dreamed where the ends of the earth would take them and to whom. It took Peter to a Gentile home where he proclaimed the gospel and a whole family was saved. When he reported what happened the Jewish believers were overjoyed that “God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life” (11:18). Still, when Paul and Barnabas began preaching the gospel to Gentiles it caused quite a stir within the Jewish churches. How can these uncircumcised people be accepted by the Lord? Please take a few minutes to read Acts 15.

A group of strict Jewish believers followed Paul and Barnabas everywhere they went declaring that Gentiles had to first convert to Judaism – and be circumcised – in order to be saved. This caused a great deal of confusion and alarm. A council of apostles and elders of the church convened in Jerusalem to address the matter. Peter, Paul, and Barnabas relayed their experiences among the Gentiles, noting how “God accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them” and “purified their hearts by faith” (vv. 8,9). From their testimony, the Council declared that all who are accepted by the Lord – Jew and Gentile alike – are saved by grace and nothing more. God had opened the door wide to receive anyone who believed and confessed that Jesus is the risen Son of God (Rom 10:9-10). No circumcision required. It’s important to note that the Jerusalem Council didn’t make a decision on God’s behalf, they recognized what God had already begun.

That’s good news – no – that’s extraordinary news and it should bring all of us non-Jewish Christ followers to our knees in thanks and worship. We were spiritual orphans but by His grace, God has claimed us as His children. I, for one, and eternally grateful. If you came to Christ as a Gentile, you fall under the Jerusalem Council’s affirmation.

When Jesus declared that “God so loved the world . . .” (Jo. 3:16) He meant everyone. Jesus is the Savior of all mankind. Aren’t you glad that includes you, Beloved?

Acts: The Door is Open

We return in Acts to the scene in an upper room in Jerusalem. Amid the wind and flames of the Holy Spirit and the languages declaring the mighty works of God, there was awe and wonder. There was also confusion and derision. One group asked, “What does this mean?” while another group mocked and said, “They have had too much wine.” Before chaos could take over Peter stood up.

This is a beautiful fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy. When He declared that Satan had permission to sift Peter He also assured Peter that he would not fail his Lord. He said “When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). Because He knew Peter would. And here the disciple stands with his brothers to encourage and strengthen them.

Peter explained that this was Joel’s prophecy come to life when every nation and every gender and every age would declare the Word of the Lord. Judaism was an exclusive religion. Jesus came to break down every barrier to God. Joel’s words were the promise that the Spirit of God would no longer be reserved for Israel but would be a universal gift to all believers of every nation, gender, and age. Even Gentiles. And women. And men young and old.

“In those days,” gives way to apocalyptic imagery of wonders and signs and blood, fire, and smoke. This is generally believed to refer to the final cosmic events preceding the return of Christ, which Peter assumed was very near. There’s a whole lot here that we don’t have time to unpack because the point of Peter’s message was not the impending return – it was the wide open door to heaven.

When God called Abraham and established the Jewish nation, he drew a distinctive line between those who were “in” and those who were “out.” Now, because of Jesus, everyone was welcome to come in. When the curtain in the temple was torn in two at Jesus’ death, the rip started at the top (Matt 27:51). Now all nations and all genders and all ages were invited to the house of God. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21).

That means you, Beloved. God gave His one and only Son to save you. To welcome you to His family and His house and His eternal heaven. No matter your family or your gender or your age. God won’t even hold your past sins and mistakes against you. Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me I will not drive away” (John 6:37). The only thing you have to be is willing.

Be Patient

I ran across a quote I had posted several years ago that is tugging at my heart this morning. It is by Adel Bestavros, an Egyptian lawyer, teacher, scholar, and preacher:

Patience with others is love.

Patience with self is hope.

Patience with God is faith.

I love this. It is so simple and yet so profound. Love for others is expressed in patience. Hope comes when we are patient with ourselves and our struggles. But I was most intrigued by the last of the three statements: “Patience with God is faith.” But I’ve always taught that faith, by definition, is a belief that leads to action. Faith in God caused the Israelites to step between the walls of water and walk on dry ground. Faith had Joshua and the people march around the walls of Jericho to bring them down and take the city. Jesus said that “Faith as small as a mustard” can move mountains (Matt 17:20). Yes! That’s the kind of faith I want!

But then I looked more closely at the Scriptures and I discovered that faith also involves a lot of waiting. Noah waited in the ark. Abraham waited for God’s promised child. David waited for his throne. The disciples waited for the Holy Spirit. And they waited because they had faith. But faith in what? The psalmist said: “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope” (Ps 130: 5). They waited for the Lord. They had faith in Him. They had patience with God.

Now I’m not by nature a patient person. I hate red lights. I tell the microwave to “Hurry up!” I tap my foot impatiently at the coffee pot. And when my laptop drags, and it does it a lot, I get very aggravated. But I’m learning to be more patient and my teacher is my granddaughter. She is in the “I want to do it myself” stage, and so I wait while she fumbles with her shoes and slowly climbs into her car seat and takes forever to do the things that I could do in a matter of minutes. I wait because that is how she learns, and it’s how you and I learn too.

We learn that God is trustworthy and faithful. We learn that He is good and kind. We learn that He is mighty and perfect in all His ways. And we learn most of all that He loves us. And that is why we can wait for Him. Beloved, do you have faith in God? Then be patient.

God of the Impossible

“This is impossible. It’s hopeless – this will never change.”

Those are the words that have been running through my mind lately over a very difficult situation. I keep putting it in God’s hands, but something happened recently that weighs heavy on my heart – and my mind. And that’s where the problem lies. In my mind. All those defeating thoughts bubble up in my head like water boiling on the fire. When these thoughts start, I can feel my anxiety rise. And the enemy loves it. He pours more gas on the flames until I am in a pit of anxiety and despair.

But the Spirit brought a Word to mind: “Whatever is true . . . think about such things” (see Philippians 4:8). Then He whispered to me, “What is true here?” I realized what He was up to. He was trying to turn my thoughts away from the burden I feel and toward the burden-bearer.  He was soaking the dry ground of my mind with the Living Water of His Word.

What is true is that “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). The Spirit took me on a mental Bible study, calling to mind the many times God worked out the impossible. Like giving a 90+-year-old couple a baby (Abraham and Sarah). Or parting the waters to let two million people cross over on dry land (The Hebrew nation crossing the Red Sea). Or bringing down a massive stone wall with shouts of praise (Joshua and the battle of Jerico). Or causing the sun to stand still in the sky to give His warriors victory (Josua and the battle at Gibeon). How about a shepherd boy bringing down a giant with a slingshot (David and Goliath)?  Can a virgin give birth? She can if God is behind it (Mary’s immaculate conception).  Think about demons being driven out, paralyzed men walking, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, and the mute speaking. Or mothers being given back their dead children, sick people made well, thousands fed from a little boy’s lunch, and water turned into wine.  

Then He asked me, “Now Child, is your situation more impossible than these?” No, it isn’t. And neither is yours Beloved. I don’t know what burdens your heart today, but I know that you and I have a God who specializes in overcoming the impossible. And that’s the truth.

Faith and Fear

If I give my mind just a little rope it will always run into the pit of anxiety and fear. I was very fearful as a child and it stuck with me all my life. “But you’re a Christian,” you say, “and you write often about not giving in to fear.” And you are correct. It’s been a hard lesson for me, and I don’t always get it right, but God has revealed something to me in His Word and I need to pass it on to you.  Please take a moment to read Genesis 32:1-12.

Genesis 32:7 says Jacob was “in great fear and distress,” and with good reason. He was returning home to the brother whom he had years earlier cheated out of their father’s blessing. The brother who had sworn to kill him. The brother who was coming toward him accompanied by four hundred men. I would be in great fear and distress too. Jacob prayed to the God of His father Isaac and grandfather Abraham saying, “Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me” (v. 11). Then he immediately follows his confession of fear with a profession of faith – “But You have said, “I will surely make you prosper and make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted” (v. 12).

Do you see the pivot point? “I am afraid…” “But You have said…”(vs. 11,12). Jacob was afraid of his brother, but he trusted God and took Him at His word. “I will believe what You have said, Lord.” Notice that Jacob didn’t say, “My brother is coming after me, but I’m not afraid.” He was honest about his fear – just as I have been many times. Then he picked up his shield of faith – just as the Spirit has taught me to do, too.  David said, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you” (Psalm 56:3). That’s a simple, yet powerful prescription for fear.

Whatever is making you anxious today, Beloved, take your fears to God in prayer. He will not condemn you for being afraid, but He will remind you of His promises and give you the peace and courage you need. Faith is the hinge on which our hearts swing between fear and hope.