Tag: promise

Faith

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(Genesis 12:1-8)

What do we really need? In my last post/sermon, the answer was “a gift.” Anything that is going to make right our relationship with God that has been naturally shattered by our sin has to come from him, since we can’t earn it or fix it. It must be given. It must be received. It must be a gift, and it must be by grace. And it is.

But we need more than that. Why? Because, while salvation from God is entirely a gift, entirely by grace, and entirely through Jesus Christ, not everyone will benefit from it. Something else is needed. And, while we have a name for that “something,” you’ll notice we don’t see the word for it at all in our verses from Genesis 12. The word is “faith,” and you can search through Genesis 12:1-8 with a fine-tooth comb, but you won’t find it anywhere. The word “faith” isn’t even in our verses at all. 

But, while the word faith isn’t in our verses from Genesis, faith itself is very visible. We see what faith looks like. We see faith put into practice. We observe faith. So let us see it and celebrate it in Abram, and let us rejoice in it by reflecting it in our lives also, all while thanking God yet again for providing exactly what I need: faith.

What does God’s gift of faith do? Faith listens, it acts, and it is blessed.

Look at this gift in the life of Abram. Genesis 12 starts out with the words, “The Lord had said to Abram” (v.1). Here is the first point – rather obvious, I admit – yet without it, faith cannot exist. It has to hear the Lord speak. Abram didn’t have the Bible we do today. He didn’t have Scriptures to read, study, and digest in order to listen to God. God simply spoke to him directly. We can’t miss this easily overlooked point about faith. It listens. It hears. God speaks, and faith’s ears perk up to hear what God is saying. 

God doesn’t promise to speak to us directly, as he did to Abram. Nor does he need to. In fact, we ought to be relieved that he’s given us something more reliable to listen to than his direct voice: he’s given us his Word. That may sound backwards to some today, as a person might naturally presume that God speaking directly to me is more desirable than “settling” for his Word.

But if we bend our ears to some voice outside of the Word, how do we know it’s God’s? Are we sure it’s his, and how are we sure? Because we like what we hear? Because it validates what I’ve already made up my mind to do? How do we know it’s God’s voice and not our own voice? Or echoes from a movie we saw, a conversation we had, a speaker we listened to, or even the voice of the one who does his best to masquerade as an angel of light, Satan?

If I shared all of the times people told me that God directly spoke to them or told them to do something directly, and then compared all of those results, do you know what we’d have? Lots of confusion and chaos! And, God apparently changing his mind quite a bit and giving some pretty bad advice to some and new and improved guidance to others that the rest of us are not privileged to have!

On top of all of that, I realize how things like social media and all of our methods of communication have played games with my own memory (“Did I actually communicate with a person in real life, was I there, or am just remembering an update they shared online?”). That’s made it difficult at times to nail down reality within my own memory. Am I sure then, that I want to risk the uncertainty of God speaking to me directly and me mixing up the details?

Faith listens to what God says, and what God says is clearly laid out for us in Scripture. Let’s keep our ears tuned to the Bible and not look to or hope for other revelations. He hasn’t promised them.

For many of us, that’s where we’re stuck in our Christian life, right here at this step. This is where the growth needs to happen, by simply listening to God in his Word. I don’t know if anyone has ever written anything as profound as what I’m about to write, but… read your Bible.

Often. Daily. Frequently. More than you are.

That’s what faith does. It listens to God’s voice. Start there. If you haven’t done that yet, or don’t know how to start or how to get back on track reading the Bible, there’s no shame in acknowledging that, but… you should be ashamed of continuing to be OK with that if you do nothing to change it. No excuses. Because faith is inseparable from the Word. 

When faith grows, it moves on to the next step (while always continuing with the first: listening!). Faith listens and then acts. Following the blessing promised by God, take note of the short sentence that follows.“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him” (v.4a). He listened to what the Lord told him and went! See how listening informed the action Abram took? He didn’t just act in some form or fashion that he thought best, but went “as the Lord had told him.” Faith listened and then acted – as directed by God. 

Abram’s faith didn’t just stop there, either. Look at how else it acted each time he arrived at a new rest stop. When he arrived at the great tree of Moreh at Shechem, “he built an altar there to the Lord” (v.7b). Then, he arrived at the next stop, “with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord” (v.8).

Have you ever stopped to consider the effort that kind of worship required? We pat ourselves on the back for showing up at church on Sunday, but imagine the effort required in the construction project of building an altar every time you wanted to worship! And, at 75, Abram was no spring chicken! Abram’s faith acted, both in obedience to what God had commanded him to do, but also in the natural outflow of worship, reflective of a heart inclined toward God.

How does our faith look in this department? Where does it have opportunity to get put into action? Where does it obey? Where does it worship (not just on Sunday morning, but daily)? Again, for many of us, faith in action looks like the first step we already talked about – getting to know your Bible. That is a faith that is listening and acting. So start there. 

Others of you, though, are or ought to be more mature in your faith. God didn’t call you to faith to stay at the level of faith at which he called you, but to grow and mature. Faith doesn’t mature when faith doesn’t act. So ask yourself this tough question: where am I disobeying or disregarding God’s call to action for my faith that is keeping me from maturing? Wrestle with that question.

Then, as you uncover the answer – or rather, answers, plural – repent of them. When you’ve done that, turn to the gracious God whose love and forgiveness for you will never run out, and ask him to lead you on that path of a mature faith that acts.

Do you know where the confidence to carry out that practice comes from? It comes from the third thing that faith “does.” It’s blessed. When faith listens and acts, blessings follow, and low and behold, guess what happens when blessings follow? They prompt us to listen and act even more! It’s like some beautiful divine cycle that God had in mind. Listen, act, blessing, listen, act, blessing, etc. Do you think it’d be a good cycle to get your life on board with? I do! So does God. 

Hear again how God blessed Abram’s faith. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (v.2-3). Do you remember all of the achievements Abram had accomplished at this point to deserve such a gracious promise from God? Did you look at the preceding verses and chapters to see the record of Abram’s righteousness?

Oh, that’s right – there isn’t anything!

That’s because God was the initiator of this blessing. It wasn’t set into motion by Abram’s own obedience or righteousness. Rather, God promised it and prompted Abram’s own obedience and righteousness. 

That’s how it is with us, too, isn’t it? God doesn’t just promise to bless us when faith listens and acts, but he blesses us so that faith listens and acts in response. Yes, we’re sandwiched in blessings! God blesses us on the front end and the back end because that’s who he is. 

In fact, did you even know that this promise God gave Abram was about you? How did God bless all people on earth through Abram? Jesus, that’s how. Jesus would come from the great nation God promised Abram, and as his one divine descendant, all people would be blessed through the Savior, Jesus Christ. That’s you. Blessed by the gracious gift of salvation we talked about last Sunday – the gift that is exactly what you need. Blessed also by the faith to believe and receive that gift. Blessed to be called into the same family of faith as Abram and all believers ever since. Blessed to be washed in forgiveness through your baptism and fed and filled up with forgiveness in the Lord’s Supper. Blessed to have the blessing of the Bible dwell richly in our homes and lives. 

You have exactly what you need; you have faith. It receives the eternal benefits of everything Jesus did for you. But don’t shortchange it, as if that’s all faith was intended to do, to serve as the conduit by which we receive eternal life. No, it’s capable of much more, which is why God gifted it to you. God showed that to Abram, who listened, acted, and was blessed.

Will you let God show you what faith is capable of receiving from him? 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For the Blessings Received by Faith

Spirit of Life,
Thank you for the gift of faith, by which we have the sure confidence of our salvation, completed in full for us by Jesus. Faith that is healthy and growing is faith that is blessed. When we listen to your Word and put it into practice, we see and experience the blessings you promise. While this should not surprise us, we often react as if these blessings came out of nowhere and could never have been anticipated – even though you so plainly promise them! How much room our faith still has to grow! Increase our faith so that we boldly expect you to deliver on your promises when we listen and act accordingly. And, fill us with humble gratitude for how richly you still bless us even when we don’t.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Replace My Stress With Trust

Loving Father,
When I look at the week ahead and feel overwhelmed by responsibilities and pressing deadlines, remind me not to worry, as each day has enough trouble of its own. The pressure I feel stems from falling into the trap of thinking I’m the one in control, and forgetting that you oversee all things and promise to work them all out for my good. Relieve me of my stress by increasing my trust in that promise. Help me align your spiritual truths with my day and week. Do not let me believe the lie that I have too much to do that I don’t have time for your Word; instead, direct me to prioritize it, so that your Spirit can still my soul and carry me through this week.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Picked for a Purpose

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(1 Peter 2:9-12)

The lone remaining member of the family is the only one to have survived the car wreck. It took the lives of everyone else in her family, leaving her to spend the rest of her life wondering, “Why me?” Why, of everyone in the family, was she the one who was spared? Veterans who have come home to their families after war have felt the same nagging question when reflecting on all of their friends who were not as fortunate to return: “Why me?” “Why me?” is also sure to shape the thoughts of the patient who was just told it’s terminal after leaving the follow-up appointment with his oncologist.

The answer to the “Why me?” questions in those scenarios is this: we don’t know. God hasn’t revealed his specific answer to those situations in his Word. The Bible doesn’t explain why it wasn’t another family member who lived, why the surviving veteran wasn’t KIA and others were, or why the tumor wasn’t found to be benign. We can speculate all we want, but that will never satisfy us if we demand an answer that ultimately will remain known only to God.

However, just because we don’t know the specific answer to those specific scenarios doesn’t mean that everything remains unknown to us. We can direct our thoughts to what we do know about God and his promises in his Word and apply those to our situation. As we do that, the Holy Spirit sheds light on some possible answers to those questions, “Why me?” In one case, God may have allowed that tragedy for the purpose of uniquely qualifying that individual to comfort others who experience something similar. In another case, the loss may be what God uses to draw someone closer to him in faith. God shapes and refines us most often not through ease and comfort, but through hardship and adversity.

Whether or not we have endured any experiences related to those mentioned, we do have answers to another “why me?” question. It’s one most believers have considered at one time or another: why did God choose me? Why am I a believer? Why not some other religion or belief? Why Christianity? Why am I a Christian?

The answer? You were picked for a purpose. Actually, you’ll discover many purposes if you read through the whole Bible. But we’re going to give our attention to the two purposes revealed in the verses from 1 Peter. One of those purposes is very well known to just about every believer. And we’ll get to that one. 

But the other purpose is no less beautiful, even if it is not as well known. I believe that this purpose, if not only known, but embraced, believed, and lived, has the potential to significantly alter the lives of those who hear it.

Some of you know it; others, not so well. Others know it, but have not combined it with the faith to change their outlook on life. When I say this purpose can be life-changing for people, I mean it. It can eliminate the need for pills. It can result in the cancellation of the remaining counseling sessions. It can improve relationships.

Do I have your attention? Are you ready for it? Do you want to know what this purpose is for which God picked you? Read 1 Peter 2:9 with again, but stop after the fourth comma. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession,…” Why did God pick you? To be his. That purpose stands on its own. Yes, there is much involved in living out our callings as Christians, but we cannot zip right past this purpose just to get busy with the doing. We have to bask in the “being.” 

And we have our choice! Who doesn’t like choices? We want options. We want things our way, the way we like them. So God puts together a list, and although all of them are true for believers, some may have more meaning than others. Think of the individual who has lived life always being overlooked or passed over for someone else. Not by God! No, because God chose us – he didn’t settle for us or get stuck with us, but chose us. And “a royal priesthood” carries with it a social status that some have never experienced, having been born into what they perceive to be a low rung of the socio-economic ladder. The believer with a tender conscience, crushed by the slightest sin or slip-up, is part of a “holy” nation. And the person from a broken home or who was adopted and perhaps has always struggled with feelings of being unwanted is God’s own possession. You were picked for a purpose: to be God’s!

We heard all about this in my last sermon post. Does that mean I shouldn’t be repeating the same thing again? Am I so unoriginal that I have to regurgitate the same stuff week after week? How about this? I’ll stop repeating it when 1), the Bible quits bringing it up, and 2) you start believing it. When those two things happen, then I’ll give it a rest; I’ll quit repeating the same thing.

But until then, hear it again: you are special. God used Peter to call you his “special possession.” And yes, that is what you are! And yes, that is one of the purposes for which God picked you!

And it sinks in more when we recall how drastically different our natural status before God ought to have been. Our natural arrogance of denying there’s a God or turning from him should have classified us as a “rejected” people. Our boorish behavior and classless treatment of others is a far cry from any designation of royalty. Our hatred and unholiness speak for themselves. Peter reminded us in this way: “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (v.10). 

But grace doesn’t call us what we are by nature, but what God has picked us for. Grace doesn’t force us to live under the labels we earned for ourselves, but calls us what God has made us. Chosen. Royalty. Holy. His prized possession. That’s what you were picked for.

This life-changing truth can impact everything in your life: how you view God, how you view yourself, and how you view others.

If it’s true that God feels that way about me – that he picked me not out of obligation or as some random name out of a hat, but because he deliberately, willingly, knowingly wanted me to be his, then that reality absolutely affects how I think and feel about God. There is no one and nothing in my life that could ever matter more! Someone who feels that way about me doesn’t have to ask for or demand my love and loyalty in return, because he’s already got it. 

And, if the Almighty God calls me all of these things, and backs it all up through the redeeming work of Jesus on my behalf, then it also shapes how I feel about me. Whose opinion of me matters more than that? Not someone else’s. Not even my own! So if the One who knows me better than I even know myself feels that way about me – and my best or worst days have no bearing on it, then how can I feel anything but positive about the person looking back at me in the mirror?

If God calls me his chosen, royalty, holy, prized possession, isn’t it the height of arrogance to think I know better than he does and think so little of or so negatively about myself? There’s simply no place for such a view. I need to start seeing myself as he does.

Finally, when I know how my loving God feels about me, which positively influences how I feel about me, then it also changes how I view others. I don’t need to pour myself into people pleasing (at least not for the purpose of earning the praise or affection of others!). I don’t need to pretend I can get everyone to like me. I don’t need to stress out over finding Mr. or Mrs. Right when I know it has zero impact on how God feels about me. And, I start to view others the way God views me. The bitterness, resentment, animosity, hatred, indifference, etc. that I may have felt about certain individuals or in general toward certain groups begins to disappear. It is replaced by an increasingly genuine desire to love them as God loves me and to want them to know how much God loves them, too. 

Lo and behold, that brings us to the second purpose for which God picked us. Recall early on that I mentioned two purposes Peter provides in these verses. The second is more familiar, and it’s found after the comma where we stopped earlier. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (v.9).

You – chosen, royalty, holy, prized possession of God, you – were picked also for this purpose: to “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” You were picked to talk up God, to make him known, to let others know who he really is. That means we’re not content to let whatever hair-brained or half-baked ideas about God that others have drummed up in their own minds or regurgitated from some other teacher or teaching go unchecked. We simply treasure God and that other person too much to allow anyone or any teaching to falsely misrepresent him. 

The Bible’s doctrines and teachings are absolutely essential – after all, they’re how our understanding of and relationship with God grows. However, too many people choose to be so put off by the “rules” and teachings of the Bible that they’ve never actually taken the time to get to know the God of the Bible. When unbelievers are consistently quick to explain that they can’t believe because they don’t agree with this or that teaching, all they’re revealing is that they’ve never really gotten to know God first. They’re turned off by the teachings, but why should we expect anything else if they don’t know the Teacher? They have not come to know the One who reveals himself as the embodiment of love! 

Peter seemed to be aware of this, since he didn’t write that the purpose for which we were picked was to argue or debate others into the kingdom by proving the validity, the wisdom, or the correctness of all of the Bible’s teachings, but by declaring the praises of God.

Praise who he is and what he’s done. Lead others to get to know who God is – the gracious, merciful, patient, loving God who has sacrificed so much to demonstrate the depth of his love for us. You are uniquely equipped to declare those praises to others! Not because you went to the Seminary or aced a class or had some intense, in-depth training, but because you know from experience what it’s like to have been called out of darkness into his wonderful light. You know how wonderful it is. You, therefore, are as qualified as anyone to declare to others the praises and promises of God!

And one last thing. Please, literally for the love of God, please back up your words with the way you live your life. “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (v.12). Others aren’t just listening to the words that come out of your mouth. They are paying attention to your life to see if it validates your words.

If the impression they get from you is that grace means it doesn’t really matter how a person lives, how is that any different from how they’re already living? They already live however they want to. They’re already doing whatever they want. If all your talk about Jesus and faith has not resulted in any noticeable change in your life, then why should they be drawn to a life that looks no different from theirs? No, “live such good lives” that the quality and character of your life stands out so much they can’t help but be drawn to know more about the God who made that change in you. 

Why me? Why you? You were picked for a purpose – to be known by God and to make God known. He picked you to make you his own – chosen, royalty, holy, prized possession – and to make him known. Others are wrestling with “Why me?” for countless reasons. Give them the best answer to that question. Make known to them the One who has done everything to make them his own, too.

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Trust You Wholeheartedly

Providential Father,
Your promises, which are always trustworthy and true, assure me that you will provide for all of my physical and spiritual needs. But, even though I believe it, I still struggle to trust it. Doubt and worry come so naturally and so easily to me, prompting me to think I’m just better off taking matters into my own hands and controlling the outcome on my own. This usually results in my experiencing the all-too-familiar lesson of how foolish it is to pretend I could care for or provide for myself better than you. Therefore, I ask you not to improve my prowess in providing, but rather to increase my trust. Steer me away from self-reliance and toward a deeper confidence in you. Lead me to lean on you not hole-heartedly, but wholeheartedly.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Trust Your Promises

Gracious Lord,
Your promises are trustworthy and true because you only speak the truth and cannot lie. So, when I doubt them or struggle to believe them, the issue is never on your end, but always on mine. Whether I question them because they seem too impossible or because I know I am too unworthy, put my doubts to rest. Erase them and replace them with unwavering confidence in all that you say and do, knowing that your commitment to me and your dedication to my salvation are unyielding. Help me see all the ways you keep your promises on a daily basis, and firm up my faith as a result. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Hold On to My Faith

Almighty Father,
You warn us repeatedly of the dangers of trouble, trial, and temptation. When these arise in my life, they can put my faith to the test, seeking to challenge it or choke it out. The evil one will use whatever means he can to drive a wedge between my Savior and me. If he can succeed in separating us during this life, then he will achieve his goal of stripping me of my eternal life.

Hold me fast. Send me an extra measure of your Spirit whenever I face spiritual adversity, to strengthen my grip on your powerful promises. Do the same for struggling Christians everywhere, so that your grace causes them to grab on to their faith more firmly and not let go. Extend the loving and supportive arms of fellow believers to embrace and hold up brothers and sisters in the faith when the enemy’s fighting is fierce. Hold my hand forever, so that even when I loosen my hold in my moments of weakness, I know you’ll always have me.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Those Being Confirmed in Christ

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. This time of year, many young people who have been instructed in the teachings of the Christian faith are being confirmed. Bless them as they confess their faith in Jesus and make their promises to you and to their congregations to remain in their faith and grow in it. Keep them from taking their vows lightly and lead them to a clear understanding of how important they are. Instill in each class of confirmands a camaraderie and sense of spiritual responsibility for each other, so they can encourage each other and hold each other accountable. Guide parents to faithfully carry out their roles of modeling the faith in the home. Lead congregations to embrace their responsibility of continuing to shepherd these young people and prioritize their spiritual health. Draw all confirmands continually closer to their Savior and keep them faithful to the end, so that each may receive the crown of life Christ won for them. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

“Help Me See… that God Keeps His Promises”

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(Luke 24:13-35)

The most memorable movies almost always have a great ending. What makes for a great ending? While there are a lot of factors that contribute to a great ending, the one that I think stands out the most is when something completely unexpected happens. We recently had this experience in the Grand Canyon. One of the most spectacular hikes was because it was unexpected. While it was impressive to finish the first part of the hike that involved a significant descent, once we got to the first lower section, everything sort of started looking the same. It was as if the hike could have been in any number of other National Parks – it wasn’t too special or unique. But then when we shot off on another trail, almost out of nowhere, an unexpected view caught us by surprise: the steep walls that had surrounded us cracked open and revealed miles of canyon upon canyon, all splitting right from where we were. It was completely unexpected and breathtaking. A good movie ending is like that, leaving the viewer completely caught off guard by a twist that didn’t feel at all forced, leaving him almost speechless. We love those kinds of endings. They’re the ones that make for the most memorable movies. 

So one might expect that we’d also love those kinds of endings in real life, right? Wrong. A movie is one thing; our life is another. No, in life we prefer to know exactly what is happening next. We like to have control. We like to see how we’ll be getting from where we are right now to where we want to be or need to be. We don’t particularly care for the twists or the turns, but would rather see the road ahead of us maintain the straight trajectory that we’re currently on. Keep your twists and turns, thank you very much. 

The problem is, have you noticed by now that the twists and turns are often how God tends to keep his promises? We confuse the path of God’s promises for God passing on his promises. We conclude that God is overlooking his promises when he is in fact overseeing them. A recent devotion used the picture of a detour, which is really a great illustration of how God keeps his promises. We’ve driven a familiar route long enough and expect to get there a certain way. A detour throws everything off. It throws us off. It frustrates us. It leads us to conclude that God has checked out and is no longer interested in keeping his promises, when in reality the detour is God keeping his promise. Just not using the means, methods, or map that we had in mind! 

Wasn’t that how the disciples on the way to Emmaus were seeing things? They recounted all of the details that had happened. “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet powerful in action and speech before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it’s the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the tomb, and when they didn’t find his body, they came and reported that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn’t see him” (v.19-24). They had just captured everything that had happened, just as it was supposed to happen – as Jesus had said it would happen – but they concluded that something was wrong. Something was out of place. Something hadn’t played out the way it was supposed to. In fact, everything had played out just as it was supposed to, but they didn’t see it that way. God was in fact doing just what he has always done – carrying out his promise. Yet they drew the entirely wrong conclusion – that it wasn’t happening the way it was supposed to. 

Since Jesus knew better, it doesn’t surprise us to hear the response that he gives – “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” (v.25). As if Jesus was saying, “Guys, how are you missing that everything you just explained was like a movie that perfectly followed the script from beginning to end, not ad-libbing or changing things on the fly, but playing out according to the script God had revealed through his prophets from day 1? It’s happening just as it was written, yet you’re somehow befuddled by the reality of what it looks like. How can this be?”

Indeed, how can it be that we would ever conclude that the events in our life not playing out exactly as we expected must mean God isn’t keeping his promises? We can’t relate to that at all, can we… except on an almost daily basis! God is busy keeping his promises to his people day in and day out, yet as we track the way by which he chooses to do it, we conclude that God must be overlooking his promises instead of overseeing them, as he actually is. Take a brief waltz through the significant events in your life and make a mental list of how they played out. Did you get through school the way you planned to? Did you find your spouse the way you planned to? Did you come by your current job the way you planned to? Are you current living where you planned to? Not too much of our lives plays out the way we planned, but our altered plans are not God’s altered promises – they are rather the means by which he was carrying out his promises all along!

Now it’s one thing to look back and see this play out in hindsight, but it’s not so easy when we’re in the middle of it. It doesn’t look like God is keeping his promises to provide when I’m in a season of unemployment. It doesn’t feel like God is keeping his promise of peace and unity in the middle of so much division. God promises that he’s always with us, but that’s hard to experience when those closest to me have abandoned or forgotten me.

Sometimes the issue in these cases is because God has just begun the detour in keeping his promise; other times it’s simply my disobedience. What I mean by disobedience is that we fail to act on the direction he provides that allows us to see him carry out his promise. He promises peace when we place our trust in him. But we don’t have peace because we don’t trust. He promises relief from anxiety when we cast our cares on him. But we’re anxious because don’t cast our cares on him. He promises freedom from bitterness and anger when we forgive. But we’re bitter and angry because we refuse to forgive. So our disobedience doubles the damage – it is not only sin against God, which is wretched enough in its own right, but on top of that it is also debilitating to us! It’s not that God isn’t keeping his promise; it’s that we rob him of the opportunity to do so by our disobedience! When God says “Do this” and we don’t, is it reasonable for us to expect the promised blessings he attached to that act of obedience? Not really!

The good news is that whether our struggle to see God keeping his promises is due to our impatience with the detour he has chosen to take, or because of our disobedience, the solution to both is found in the same place. How did Jesus help the disciples see that God was simply carrying out his promises? He explained the Scriptures to them. “‘Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures” (v.26-27). Jesus, the incarnate God, the One who breathed everything into existence, who has no beginning and no end, is right there with the two disciples, and how does he open their eyes? He uses the Bible. Jesus used the Bible to unfold for the two exactly how God was overseeing – not overlooking – his promises. Jesus’ go-to was the Word of God. And that in-depth search of the Scriptures pointed them more clearly to Jesus. The Word was how they saw God keeping his promises.

So detour or disobedience – it doesn’t matter; the Word will always help us see that God keeps his promises. It will always be the necessary first step in reminding us of this because it is always the first step in finding forgiveness. Why do we begin every service with confession and absolution? Because that comes from the Word, where alone and more than anything else we find the forgiveness we need. Oh, the day we stop sinning we won’t need to hear that assurance of forgiveness again… but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. So forgiveness is the first aid we need most for our disobedience and our doubts about God keeping his promises. 

And it is the same Word that records for us promise after promise that God has made and delivered. Hang on to this worship folder just for the Lessons, if nothing else. Keep it accessible so that when you next question God’s promise-keeping, you can go back to these Scriptures and be reminded that the issue is NEVER going to be one of God’s failed promises. That will never happen. But we need to be reminded of that truth again and again. We need to hear the refrain in our heads. We need to meditate in our minds over they myriad ways God has always kept his promises. Promise-keeping is what he does. He’s the best in the business – no one else even comes close to delivering on promises the way God does! His Word is his diary of kept promises for you.

And is there greater proof of those kept promises than the vacant tomb? Talk about unexpected twists and great endings! It appeared as if the credits were ready to roll when he breathed his last on Good Friday, but in the greatest ending ever, he didn’t stay dead! Let Jesus’ resurrection help us see that God keeps his promises. And let it help us see that it really isn’t the end of the story, but our lives are a continuation of God’s perfect promise-keeping record. We hold on to that until this chapter of the story concludes and the final twist takes place: Jesus returns and fulfill his final promise. Come, Lord Jesus!