Promises appear to be a thing of the past. It’s not a sentiment you hear too often anymore. Just me? When I used to be a bit girl within the 60s and 70s, my neighborhood friends and I were all the time making guarantees to one another. In fact, I feel the entire “pinky promise” might need began then. One area where guarantees were made in a plea fashion was to ask for something from my parents, which was sometimes met with explanation why I wouldn’t be rewarded, reminiscent of not having cleaned my room when asked. Suddenly, little Karen launched into expectant hope by declaring, “I promise! I promise! I’ll clean my room!” Then I might get the proverbial response, “We’ll see…” I find it interesting that as children, we were continuously making deals with a promise because the verbal surety deposit. I’m undecided where we learned promise-making from.
With adolescence comes the hard lessons of broken guarantees, often in the shape of the primary heartbreak with a boyfriend or girlfriend. I don’t know when promise rings became a thing, but a lady would accept a promise ring with much joy in her heart, believing that she could be together endlessly together with her boyfriend. However, statistically, at such a young age, that wouldn’t find yourself being the case and the entire significance of the promise ring could be shattered within the girl’s mind.
I’m wondering if the explanation adults don’t typically use the term “I promise,” or in the event that they do, it’s taken with a grain of salt, due to all of the broken guarantees of childhood and adolescence. When recalling what childhood promise-making might need looked like, it was all insignificant so far as life goes, however it still set a pattern of distrust about any variety of promise.
The only guarantees we are able to trust with certainty are God’s guarantees. The entirety of God’s Word is full of God’s guarantees to us. However, a few of those guarantees are written to a selected person or audience, which can cause some confusion about whether that specific promise is admittedly meant for us as well. Yet, even when a promise is made that only suits that point in biblical history, the promise speaks to the character of God and still translates as a promise for us.
Let’s take a take a look at how we are able to grab God’s guarantees and take away any doubt about whether or not they are meant for us or not.
Conditional Promises versus Unconditional Promises
The word promise means “a declaration or assurance that one will do a selected thing or that a selected thing will occur.” When pondering of God’s guarantees, it’s not only any “one” that may do a selected thing, however the “One and only God”—the promise-keeping God. Yet, it will probably still be difficult to consider His guarantees. We haven’t seen God in front of us, speaking on to us. Instead, we’ve witnessed flawed people breaking their guarantees to us. As a result, we stock those experiences and fasten them to the Lord, making it hard to consider His guarantees.
“God shouldn’t be a person, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and can He not do? Or has He spoken, and can He not make it good?” Numbers 23:19
God makes conditional guarantees which might be contingent on our faith or obedience. He makes unconditional guarantees based solely on His character and faithfulness alone. Throughout the Bible, we see examples of God’s conditional guarantees and his unconditional guarantees. Every story in God’s Word reinforces that the Lord delivers on what He has promised. The Bible is the means by which the Lord communicates with us. It is His testimony to encourage us that we are able to consider God’s guarantees are specifically meant for us.
Some of us might bristle on the considered God making conditional guarantees, however it is thru the condition of our faith or obedience that we can be blessed. It’s not a way to make us perform, but a method to draw us closer to Him. Not only are we then rewarded with the promised end result, but we receive so far more as we grow in our relationship with Him.
God’s unconditional promise was to never again flood the earth. Remember, he sent the flood initially because sin was rampant on the planet. Yet, after the flood, sin returned with a vengeance, but God has kept His promise. We profit from that promise even now! A promise made so way back is specifically meant for us today!
Whether conditional or unconditional, every promise of God can have its achievement in us as well. It will all the time be the essence of the promise that may fit with our circumstances and God’s will for us, which is all the time for our good.
Abrahamic Covenant Promises
Early in Genesis, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, and thru that covenant He made three guarantees: The promise of land, the promise of descendants, and the promise of blessings and redemption. This is an instance where a promise was made on to Abraham, but we profit from those guarantees as well. Not only that, we were on God’s mind when He made this covenant. We are a part of the descendants who’ve been blessed with the gift of salvation and can sooner or later live within the Promised Land of Eternity.
We may be spurred on by Abraham’s response to God’s guarantees through his belief, which didn’t waver. Before outlining the covenant guarantees, the Lord said to Abraham, “Do not fear, Abram, I’m a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great” (Genesis 15:1). The Lord’s promise was accompanied by encouragement.
Our Heavenly Father will do the identical for us. When we search His Word for a selected promise meant for us, we are going to find Him because He “rewards those that earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6b). The Lord understands our weakness. He has compassion when we’ve trouble claiming His guarantees. But He waits patiently, and once we seek Him, He will gently lead us to the purpose of believing His promise is specifically meant for us.
As we dig deeper into God’s guarantees, we are going to see that those that appear specific to a Bible character carry a promise for us too.
The Overarching Promises of God
Early on in my walk with the Lord, I purchased myself a bit pocket-sized handbook that categorized God’s guarantees by need. For someone who struggled with anxiety, I discovered it so helpful and reassuring. Sometimes it isn’t until we undergo trials that we allow ourselves to be open to claiming God’s guarantees as specifically meant for us. The Lord sends us trials to attract us closer to Him so that we’ll come to a spot of give up in believing that His guarantees are intended for us as well.
God’s character speaks to His guarantees. If we were to undergo the names of God, every one would mainly highlight a promise. And if those guarantees are tied in so closely with His names and He is our God and we’re His children, then how could those guarantees not be specifically meant for us?
The following overarching guarantees of God embody who the Lord is and the way every one among His children are stakeholders in these guarantees: I can be with you (Deuteronomy 31:8); I’ll strengthen you (Isaiah 41:10); I’ll protect you (Psalm 91); I’ll answer you (Jeremiah 33:3); I’ll provide for you (Philippians 4:19); I offers you peace (John 14:27); I’ll all the time love you (Romans 8:38-39); and the list goes on.
Many biblical accounts showcase these guarantees and will look like exclusively made for the character within the story, but as we’ve now seen, every promise of God can be specifically meant for you.
Let’s all walk in confidence knowing that the guarantees of God are specifically meant for us, and will that belief show those guarantees fulfilled.
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