My mom will be leading out Sabbath School this weekend and she shared with me that her topic will be ‘God’s promises’. For me, it seems as if we are surrounded by God’s promises and all we need to do is look and listen for what they are. I offered to write something for her, and this is an excerpt of what I wrote, she will edit and make it work for her program.
‘According to one person’s count, there are 3,547 promises in the Bible and the word promise is actually mentioned 50 times in the King James Version. That’s a lot of promises. It’s sometimes easy to skip over parts of the Bible, not realizing that they are actually promises. The one thing I’ve learned about God. He keeps every single promise He makes, no matter how long you may think for the promise to come to fruition. In today’s passage, it states that ‘God’s word will not return void and will accomplish everything that God has set out to’. What has God promised you? What has God laid on your heart that He will accomplish for you? Friends, believe that God can and will do exceedingly, abundantly all that He has promised to do.’
As I was about to write this, one friend shared on Facebook about God’s promises and faithfulness as she battles a serious illness, but what stands out for me is the joy and manner in which she has been dealing with this illness and trusting in God’s promises of healing for her.
My area of New York got battered with about a foot of snow. Someone came by and said they would shovel for a fee, and I happily agreed. I made sure to give instructions to shovel the driveway so I’d be able to get out. Except I made a rookie mistake. I agreed to the shoveling while the snow was still coming down AND before the plows had done my street. So, I guess you can guess what happened. Yup, the plows came and still closed off my driveway. Thank God for good neighbors. As I went out to clean off my car, and attempt to re shovel my driveway, my neighbor was out with his snow blower. He gave me instructions of making sure I don’t get taken advantage again the next time. ‘Wait until it’s over and the plows have come before you allow them to clean, but once I’m done my yard, I’ll make sure there’s a path for you to be able to drive out’. Yay! Thank God!
After I cleaned off my car, he still wasn’t done, and I was freezing, so I thanked him in advance. He said not to worry, it would be done before morning so I’d be able to get out for work. I went to bed without even thinking too much about it, and was already rejoicing that it would be done.
It wasn’t until 1:30 in the morning that I woke up and started thinking. Look how easily I took my neighbor’s promise of a clean driveway, who I’ve only known a year, and I’ve only talked to on about 5 occasions. But how often I have difficulty believing that what God promises that He will do! Wow. That was an eye opening moment for me, at 1:30am on a Friday.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that you keep your promises. Help us not to trust humans more than we trust your word. You have promised that your words will never return void. We know that if you’ve said it, you will do it. David reminds us that he has never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. Help us to be righteous in you and to trust in your ways.