The Promises of God

One of the key areas for finding Spiritual growth is to learn and believe the promises of God in Scripture.  Often life can be difficult with our many responsibilities to fulfill and difficulties to overcome.  But we are not alone, we are not without hope or guidance.  God is the eternal wellspring of hope in all the universe.  There's an encouraging thought!  He sees the end from the beginning and everything else in between.  And he's in control.  He has a plan and has promises for those who love him. 

Early on in Genesis, we read that Abraham was called to leave his homeland and go to a new country to serve the Lord.  Genesis 12:2, "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great."  Abraham was called to follow God to the "promised" land.  He was to be the father of the faith and his lineage would lead to the promised Messiah.  Genesis 12:7, "Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.'"  The Lord often reminds us of who he is so that we can trust in him.  Genesis 15:1, "Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."  Abraham needed to trust that God would protect him, and God needed to assure Abraham that there was great reward in trusting him. 

Yet on such a pilgrimage Abraham must have been unsure of his future on many occasions.  When he asked how he could believe that God would bless him in his old age with a son and the descendants that were promised, God directed Abraham's attention to the heavens.  Genesis 15:5, "Then He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.'  And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.'"  And in verse 6 we read, "And he believed in the Lord, and he accounted it to him for righteousness."  Here we see the great promise of faith, the righteousness of God given to Abraham unto salvation. 

The author of Hebrews also speaks of people with faith who trusted the promises of God throughout the Old Testament.  In Hebrews 11:9-10 we read, "By faith he (Abraham) dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God."  And in v.12, "Therefore from one man (Abraham), and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude – innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore."  Here we see a key point about the promises of God.  Sometimes we receive them here in this life, sometimes we do not.  But they are always fulfilled.  As we see about from Hebrews 11:13, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."  These people of faith in Hebrews 11 were people who were called from an earthly country and their promise was the "exceedingly great reward" of being with God in the heavenly country. 

One other great promise of God we should meditate upon from time to time is found in Paul.  In Philippians 1:6 we see, "Being confident of this that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."  We can be sure that God will not leave any work unfinished or incomplete.  He promises to be with us and to work with us until the day we meet him.  He is the Alpha and Omega of the faith.  He will keep his promises because he delights to work in us as we walk in faith, and therefore to be glorified in us.  Let's remember from time to time the great promises of God.

FAITH TODAY:  Genesis 15:1, "After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."