Promises

God keeps His word. He’s shown His integrity all through history. He told Adam and Eve that they’d die if they ate from the tree in the middle of the garden. Genesis 5 records that what God said came to pass.

God told Abraham He’d give him the land which became known as the Promised Land. Sure enough, within two generations his descendants had multiplied to the point that the people around were beginning to see them as a threat. Consequently, God led them to Egypt and shielded them there, only to bring them out in another three generations.

Forty years later, despite their rebellion, He brought them into the land He’d given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For five years Joshua led the people on campaigns to claim their land. When they finally dispersed, each tribe to its allotted territory, he said,

you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed. (Joshua 23:14b)

The same was true for David. The LORD directed Samuel to anoint him as king over Israel, but for years he was on the run, chased by the megalomaniac Saul who refused to believe God’s word. Samuel had told Saul that God would tear the kingdom from him because he didn’t obey God. Instead of bowing in humble submission, Saul did everything he could to kill David and to preserve his kingdom for his descendants.

Foolish man, to believe that God didn’t keep His word.

David himself had his doubts though. He went through a period where he basically said, I’m done. If I don’t get out of here, Saul is one day going to be successful and find me and kill me. Apparently David forgot that Samuel was God’s prophet, and he had anointed David according to God’s direction. It wasn’t Samuel’s idea, and David wasn’t even the man Samuel thought should be the king. It was God from start to finish, but David wavered in his trust that God would do what He said.

Nevertheless, the day came when David ascended to the throne, and God’s promise to him was fulfilled. Later, when David decided he wanted to build a temple for God, he received another promise. Through the prophet Nathan, God told him it was good that he desired to build a house for God, but it wasn’t going to be his job. Rather, God was going to build his house. His descendants would reign forever.

But surely, that seems like a promise God didn’t keep. Except, to think God failed to keep His world ignores who Jesus is. He, the descendant of David, is the Messiah, the Christ, the King immortal, invisible, the Only God. Nothing can or will remove Him from the throne.

God kept His word to David’s son Solomon, too. At the beginning of Solomon’s reign, God had told him to ask for whatever he wanted. Solomon asked for wisdom to rule. God then gave him His promise:

Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. (1 Kings 3:12b-13)

1 Kings is a book filled with facts and stories verifying that God gave Solomon what He promised. He gave him wisdom:

Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol and fnDarda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations. He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish. Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom. (1 Kings 4:29-34)

God gave him riches.

All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None was of silver; it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks. So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. (1 Kings 10:21-23)

And God gave him honor.

Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions. . . . Then she said to the king, “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. (1 Kings 10:1, 6-7)

Clearly God fulfilled His promise to Solomon.

Throughout Scripture God’s word is confirmed, His prophecies fulfilled, whether it was Jeroboam becoming king over the Northern Kingdom or the wayward prophet from Judah dying because he didn’t obey what God told him to do.

The point is simple. God means what He says and He says what He means. We humans struggle to trust. Did God really say . . .? But that’s a line of thinking Satan introduced as long ago as the Garden of Eden when he suggested Eve rethink what God had said.

He’s been making the same suggestion ever since. But he is the father of lies, and a great liar himself. God, on the other hand, speaks the truth and fulfills His promises. We may not always agree with God’s timetable. The first century Christians expected Jesus to come back within their life time, so we’re not alone when it comes to thinking God’s timing is something it isn’t.

But the cool thing is, He said in His word that He delays because of His kindness and patience, not wanting any to perish. So we can trust God even when, like David, we think things are so bad and have no chance of getting any better.

God is a God of His word, and He will not fail us or forsake us. He will keep His promises, and He’ll do so perfectly. After all, He’s proved it throughout Scripture.