Foster the FamilySample

Day Five

The Promises of God

Scripture: Numbers 23:19; Deuteronomy 31:8; Romans 8:28

Yesterday my son promised me that he would never spill cereal on the floor again. I don’t mean to call him a liar, but this kid is physically incapable of doing anything without Tasmanian-deviling his way through it. I appreciated the sentiment, but I laughed at the promise.

The problem with our understanding of God’s promises is that we assume they’re like ours. We humans should never use the word promise. When we promise something, we’re communicating our intention, not our ability to bring about the promise. I can promise my kids that they can each have a cookie after dinner, but what if they complain throughout the entire meal or start throwing up or I find cockroaches all over the cookies or a volcano bubbles from the earth and our home—and by extension, the kitchen and the cookies within the kitchen—is destroyed? I’m not in control of my world enough to be able to promise something and ensure I keep the promise.

But this is not the case with our God. He “is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has He spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19). Those same character traits of the almighty God listed above are the gold backing that valorizes His promises. God can promise that He’ll never leave us because He is everywhere all the time. (See Deuteronomy 31:8.) He can promise that He will work all things together for our good because He is the Sovereign One, actually working everything together. (See Romans 8:28.) When God promises, He shows up.

Friend, page through God’s Word and find His promises and write them with ink on your hands and with faith on your heart. As my friend Amy DiMarcangelo says in A Hunger for More, “The more we know God’s Word, the more we know Him. And the more we know Him, the more we find Him to be everything He promises.” Hold tight the promises of God, and you will find them holding you.

God, when I am afraid, I will trust in Your promises. I will trust that You are with me. I will trust that You are working these difficult circumstances together for good.