Promised Of God: Traveling With Unmet ExpectationsSample

Promises Promises

Promises Promises

God loves to promise. He loves to give them, He loves to fulfill them. He loves to surprise us and lavish them on us. He’s pretty great at laying it on thick in the promise-department. Like a doting, extraordinarily wealthy, highly esteemed, and important father… He loves to promise the world to us. 

God works in promises, he deals in making old things new.  All throughout biblical history, we see the hand of the Almighty heavy with promises to his beloved. Generations later, we are not exempt from those promises made so many eons ago. As you read the Ephesians and Corinthians passages, note what promises of God you see. Examine them closely.

What a mighty inheritance of hope we have in Christ! Yet many times God chooses to give promises and call us into a new thing in the middle of a dry spell or barren wasteland. Looking at scripture, God often promised his people the unthinkable during the unimaginable. The Bible is littered with unlikely assurances. 

Today, God is nothing if not faithful to His own character. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We get to not only share in many of the Bible’s promises, but God is working still in our lives right now. We get our very own personal assurances too. Yet, also like our spiritual ancestors, many times God calls us into a new season, ripe with promise yet severely lacking in actual logistics. When nothing else seems like it could possibly go wrong or be more parched… God shows up and gives hope, even in the most desolate of places.

This study is going to take a closer look at those wastelands that we too often find ourselves in and God’s promises in our lives. And what better way to do this than examining our spiritual forefather Abraham and his wife, Sarah, the quintessential definition of a barren wasteland. 

God’s promises have a very specific nature to them. Yes, they are for our benefit and His glory, and yet in His divine workings, they also are designed as faith builders… bringing us closer to Him, nurturing our relationship more, wooing the His bride further into His arms. Timeframes, expectations, unknown destinations, leaps of faith. All can be utilized in His ultimate plan for us. Sometimes we know where we’re called, other times we’re just instructed to start walking. Sometimes we get a peak at the supernatural schedule, other times we travel without an itinerary. Sometimes we need to only obey and little faith is required, other times we can’t do anything but sit around and wait faithfully… doing nothing but believing God to move. More often than not, it’s a mixture of all these and more. It is no wonder Abraham made it into the hall of faith in Hebrews 11… he faced all these trials and more! 

So will we! We have assurances from Christ Jesus Himself over us. So let us take hold of and examine the landscape of our lives, listening for the Father’s voice, walking in our calling, knowing we are promised of God... knowing that all our old will be turned into something brand new.

REFLECTION:

Do you feel dry? In a desert? Barren? Maybe not in your entire life or season, but perhaps in certain areas of your life? Write these down. Be specific about what the landscape of your life looks like right now. 

Draw a picture (whether mentally or on paper), label different sections. Put flowers/grass/trees where there is growth…. sand/emptiness where dryness lingers. Let’s start here, with a good picture of your life. 

If you’re not sure, pray and ask God to show you the areas of wasteland and wilderness in your life. He will be faithful to show you these places. Be listening for His word to you.