Holding On to the Promises of God

You can cling to the promises of God.

Every promise of God is worthy of your hope because backing each promise is the character and ability of the one making the promise. Your faith can rest assured, secured in his power to deliver on his word. Your confidence is well-placed when you wait with patient expectation for the fulfillment of his good and wise will, his goodly plan, his loving promise, in your life. Whatever situation or circumstance you may find yourself in, all his promises are reliable and boast-worthy; they are firm anchors tethered to the certainty of his unchangeable Word.

We can find peace in our waiting as we understand that the fulfillment of God’s promises is framed in form and time. He brings his promises to pass in his way, taking on the form of his choosing. He may use medicine, or he may use miracles. His “how” may surprise us. Think about it – he used a teenage virgin to fulfill the coming of the promised Messiah! And his promises come to pass according to his timeline. Some may be realized in the here and the now, and some may wait until eternity. Certainly, many of his promises have been fulfilled already.

It should give us comfort to know that God, the great Promise-Maker, is able and all-powerful. He never makes a promise he can’t keep. And he is faithful to fulfill his promises because of his great love for us; yes, because he loves us. When God says all our sins are forgiven, then all our sins are forgiven. When God promises a way out of temptation, we can look expectedly for that way out. God promises peace to protect, ways through the desert, good out of evil, and grace to help. Therefore, we are free to make our requests and wait and watch.

His promises are carried on the wings of his love, sent to us to be embraced with patient endurance.

But what about promises like, “He heals all of my diseases?” People often ask, “What about healing, it doesn’t always come.” Has God promised healing for today? Most certainly, but again, his promises come in his form and in his time, according to his will and wise counsel. But how do we know his will and his timing? We don’t always, but we do sometimes. We are like Strider in The Lord of the Rings series, who did his best to lead the hobbits on the right path but led them imperfectly.¹ We endeavor to follow Jesus’ model of doing only what he saw the Father doing – to peer into the heavenly will – but we often see into that window dimly. We desire to follow the leading of his Spirit, but we fall short of modeling that well, our hearing sometimes muffled.

Prayer will help us with the question of how we can grow to more clearly hear his voice. How is your prayer life? Do you spend time reading the Scriptures? What does your “asking and seeking and knocking” look like? Is your living inhabited by the word of Christ? Find his promises for you in the light of Scripture and prayer and hold on to each one you find. Hold on tightly. The one who promised is faithful.