None of us would ever admit it, but our lives manifest the disbelief we often have in the promises God has made. He will never leave us, and yet at times we feel so entirely alone. He will supply our ever need (Phil. 4:19), and yet at times we are completely without anything and more bills seem to come our way. He will work all things out together for good (Rom. 8:28), and yet we are left in utter disbelief when our nightmare becomes our reality. And so in all this we appear caught up in a real struggle to believe God's promises are valid.
It is almost as though we believe for God's promises to stand, the environment needs to be just right for them to happen. We understand that things outside of our control will happen but those are the places in which the environment is still right for God to work; and work he does. When the waters of the Red Sea were in front of God's people, it wasn't a problem. When the high waters of the Jordan River were rushing before the Israelites as they were about to go into the Promised Land, it was no issue for God. And so too in our lives, we often have the faith to believe that nothing that comes our way is any sort of problem for God. That is the context in which God's promises stand.
However, there is an environment in which the promises of God appear compromised. Often times our own poor decision-making is the very reason for our problem. How often we thoroughly process a matter but in the end find even in our checking the boxes our entire process was flawed. And other times in which our human logic sure seemed to amount to nothing more than our own yellow-brick path, but proved to be nothing more than a path of destruction. And yet other times in which neither thorough processing, nor logic were involved, but complete and utter faithlessness, and blatant sin were rampant, resulting not merely in a few wounds, but putting us on the brink of throwing it all away and considering death as better than this form of life. Whatever the case may have been, when we are the reason for difficulty, it appears the promises of God are threatened, and so it is justified should He not show up. However, this is our thought, but not biblical thought.
This is the very story of the life of Abraham (the father of the faith previously known as Abram). In Genesis 14:19 after he had been in a battle to rescue his wayward nephew, Lot, Abram came back victorious. It was a calculated plan to go rescue him, but one that undoubtedly put him in harms way. Upon coming back victorious he was met by Melchizedek, King of Salem, who came and blessed Abram. The content of his blessing though is pointing to how it was God who gave him victory (14:19-20). In other words, it was not the calculated wisdom, nor the sheer force of Abram's 318 trained men that secured this victory, but it was God's provision, His blessing.
Looking back further from the time the blessing of God was first declared over Abram as the one through whom a son would come, a nation would come, and land would be granted. God was ever certain his promise would be fulfilled. And there were other threats to His promise. In 12:10 it was the threat of famine. If Abram runs out of food and starves to death, that will put a considerable end to the entire promise. But still God provided for Abram as Egypt had food. And yet going to Egypt created another threat: Abram might lose his life because of his beautiful wife. And as the story goes a horrible decision on Abram's part proves to threaten it more than he could have ever expected.
His wife Sarai was taken after he lied and said she was simply his sister. So while he is spared, his wife is no longer with him and suddenly her own purity and even life are out of his control. How is he to have this son of promise if he has no spouse? His lie though was not even the end of the promise of God. Instead, God afflicted Pharaoh (who had taken Sarai), and Abram walked out of Egypt with far more than he had first brought in with him. His wife even went with him (despite how horrible it was for him to compromise her purity in the process). God was again upholding the promise and nothing limited God; not the power of Pharaoh, nor the faithlessness of Abram.
So what about us? If I read this correctly, in light of all of Scripture, I find this isn't something God promises to all people. If I hold this up against my life, the specifics are considerably different. So what hope do I have? I have great hope. As the promise of blessing was upheld by God, it was because God entered into a covenant with Abram. And the Bible tells us we who are in Christ are members of this "new covenant". So we can trust that nothing outside of us threatens the promises of God. Further, it is evident that nothing inside us, no decision we have made, will threaten the promise of God.
I'm not here to conclude that everything we put our hands to will succeed and prosper as we have desired and determined (John 16:33). Nor am I here to say that we should just willfully sin that good may come (Rom. 3:8). But I am completely confident that God will show up, and reassure us that He has not left us. He will take care of us, because the covenant we are in with Him is because God loves us (Rom. 8:37-39). So rest assured in the hope you still have that sins you have committed are forgiven. Rest in the hope of the promise that amid your bad decisions and spending, God will provide for you. Rest in the grace of God and His wisdom that will assure that in the end all these things will work out together for your good. His promises have not ever been threatened, so rejoice amid your difficulty today even in what you may think threatens His promises.
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