God Of Promise

Read: Isaiah 46:9-11

I have said what I would do, and I will do it. Isaiah 46:11

IN WORD

We serve a God of promise. He says what He means, and does what He says He will do. That isn’t true in every Kingdom; we’re well familiar with campaign exaggerations, broken promises, and spinmasters specializing in damage control. We’ve swallowed lies as truths and accepted failures as successes, simply because we believed what we were told. But we never need to fear deception in the Kingdom of our King. He doesn’t spin His truth to make it palatable or add fine print to His promises. His Word is His bond.

It’s possible to be mistaken about what He has said, of course, but only when we choose to apply His promises more broadly than He meant them. Even so, He means them pretty broadly. Despite the explanations of those who feel the need to clarify His Word for Him, He really does mean what He says. Those who believe Him—who insist against all odds and against all outward evidence that what He says is true—will find Him faithful. History will vindicate every word of God that was resolutely and persistently accepted and believed by one of His people.

That means that if we call ourselves believers, we need to actually believe! Our job is to cultivate faith in what He says. His big-picture purposes will be accomplished—there’s no question about that—but He prefers to implement His will in cooperation with human beings. Our prayers and faith are an indispensable part of His plan. He will do what He says for anyone who actually hears what He says and grabs on to it.

IN DEED

Invest your life in grabbing hold of the things of God. Listen for His Kingdom agenda and let your heart latch on to it. Hear His promises and tell your mind to grip them tightly, whether you understand them fully or not. Determine to be known as someone who trusts God implicitly, just like a child who knows no guile. Know the heart of your King, and depend on Him to do exactly what He has said He will do.

ADDITIONAL READING: 2 Corinthians 1:20

Faith expects from God what is beyond all expectation.

ANDREW MURRAY