How do I know God will keep his promises?

Genesis 9:12-17Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”

God arranges the interactions between storm clouds and sunlight to create rainbows, which are a visible reminder of a promise and of a God who keeps his promises. Seeing a rainbow is frequently an awe inspiring sight, but for believers it should also remind us to think about God and how he is faithful to his promises.

Numbers 23:19“God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?”

Psalm 89:34-35No, I will not break my covenant; I will not take back a single word I said. I have sworn an oath to David, and in my holiness I cannot lie:

Psalm 110:4The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow.

Malachi 3:6“I am the Lord, and I do not change.”

Titus 1:2This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began.

Hebrews 6:13-18For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.

James 1:17-18Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

God’s promises are completely dependable and trustworthy because they are an expression of God’s own character. This can give us great comfort in the present, as well as assurance for the future. If the past and present verify God’s dependability, the future will certainly reveal his continued trustworthiness. God cannot lie; he is dependable. He not only created truth, he is truth. In other words, he is the source of all truth and all truth flows from him. If he is the source of truth, then it is impossible for him to lie, for lying is the opposite of truth.

Romans 8:15-17So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs.

Ephesians 1:13-14Now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

God’s Holy Spirit is his personal guarantee that he keeps his promises. The promised Holy Spirit sent by God assures us of all the other promises God has made.

Genesis 8:1God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede.

Exodus 2:24-25God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.

Exodus 6:3-5“I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty’—but I did not reveal my name, Yahweh, to them. And I reaffirmed my covenant with them. Under its terms, I promised to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as foreigners. You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. And I am well aware of my covenant with them.”

Leviticus 26:45“For their sakes I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.”

2 Chronicles 6:14He [Solomon] prayed, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven and earth. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion.”

Ezekiel 20:5“When I chose Israel—when I revealed myself to the descendants of Jacob in Egypt—I took a solemn oath that I, the Lord, would be their God.”

God is committed to loving his people. When we love someone, we are truly committed to keeping our promises to them. When Scripture uses the phrase “God remembered,” the implication is not that he had forgotten and then suddenly recalled, but that he never forgot for a moment.

Joshua 21:43-45So the Lord gave to Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had solemnly promised their ancestors. . . . Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true.

Joshua 23:14-15“Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true. Not a single one has failed!”

1 Kings 8:56“Praise the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave through his servant Moses.”

2 Chronicles 6:15“You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today.”

Nehemiah 1:8-9“Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’”

Psalm 89:3-4The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with David, my chosen servant. I have sworn this oath to him: ‘I will establish your descendants as kings forever; they will sit on your throne from now until eternity.’”

Psalm 105:8-11He [the Lord] always stands by his covenant—the commitment he made to a thousand generations. This is the covenant he made with Abraham and the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant: “I will give you the land of Canaan as your special possession.”

Zechariah 1:6“But everything I said through my servants the prophets happened to your ancestors, just as I said. As a result, they repented and said, ‘We have received what we deserved from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He has done what he said he would do.’”

Luke 2:12, 16“And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” . . . They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.

1 Corinthians 1:9God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hebrews 11:32-40How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

God has a history of faithfully keeping his promises. Many of those promises came true over multiple generations. Enough promises have been fulfilled that even if we can think of some still incomplete, we can be assured that God has not forgotten. A faithful track record in the past assures the same track record in the future.