The Promise
“God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” Numbers 23:19
Have you ever had a promise from God that you thought would never come true? Scripture tell us that God is not a man that He should lie, but I must admit; at times I have wondered that if He isn’t the liar, then perhaps I am. Perhaps I lied to myself to believe.
But…then I happen to think about Abraham and Sarah, when God told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations (Genesis 12:1-3). At the time, Abraham wasn’t even a father and was well advanced into old age. In today’s time, he and his wife, Sarah, would both be considered past child bearing days when Isaac was born. (Genesis 18:9-15, Genesis 21:1-7)
Or I think about Moses in the desert, wandering, wondering if his people would ever see the promise land. Having seen God deliver His people from slavery and seen the parting of the Red Sea, after wandering in the wilderness for almost 40 years surely it was a natural thing for Moses to doubt?!? But God had promised…(Exodus 6:1-8)
Or perhaps I think about the children or Israel and Judea, the Jewish nation, who for centuries believed that God would bring forth a great Messiah to save them. For centuries they waited on a promised to be fulfilled. (Psalm 110,Isaiah 9:6-7. Isaiah 53, Matthew 2)
Then I think of me. In 1999 in a little hotel room in Louisiana, one night God made a promise to me. Over 10 years later, I am just now seeing the first fruit of that promise. What does that say? What does Abraham, Moses, my story, and even the faithful promise to the Jews say about God?
It says that “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”
Throughout the past 13 years I have tried to erase the promise of God, tried to forget it, and convinced myself I lied to myself about it all in an effort to not believe it. Because believing at times meant I was to hope and to hope was painful. But I am here to tell you now that God is not a man that He should lie. He simply is not. God does make promises and some promises may not be answered in 5 year or 10 years or even in our lifetime (as Abraham had no clue his seed would birth a nation), but He does deliver what He promises. Over hundreds of years, through enslavement, hardships, death and ridicule by others, the Jews were promised a Messiah until one day…He was born.
God has promised you something and at this point in your journey, as you read this, you must decide what you believe about God. In spite of doubt, hardships, trials and tribulations, in spite of reaching your bottom or the number of years since you first heard His promise; you must decide what you will believe.
I write these devotionals as a person of Christian faith and I realize that not everyone believes as I do. But I can simply attest to what I know to be true. Despite numerous witnesses, fulfilled prophecy, and personal testimonies of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ people still didn’t believe. They still don’t. But today, you have a choice of what to believe. Not just about Christ, but about that small thing God told you. That promise. Today it may not look as if the promise will ever be manifested; I am here to tell you that it WILL be. What God has promised WILL come to pass. This is not just my belief; it’s my testimony, 13 years later.