But You Promised

Broken promises, shattered dreams, life's not fair. This is a lens we develop through which to see the world, influenced by our experiences. We can even us this lens to look at God if we aren't careful...In life, people make promises. We try our hardest to fulfill them, but they might fall through. Human nature and a fallen world see to this.

There are also times where promises are broken on purpose either by you or someone else. Both scenarios develop our lens with which to examine a promise. When we read in the Bible that God “promises” something, we might already have a skeptical view of the word based on the filter of our lives. Add to that, we don’t understand the mind of God and our timing is not His. We don’t see anything happen, don’t see it happen as we want, or see the opposite thing happen. This causes us to say, “told you so.”

• We don’t believe in the promises of God because we don’t understand what the word “promise” means coming from the mouth of God.

The promises of God are not future events that haven’t taken place. The things God promises have already happened. That’s why He promises them. He is in eternity past and eternity future and the present all at the same time. When He gives a promise, He has already seen its fulfillment, even if we can’t or never do.

God is not the same as you, nothing is out of His control. He won’t promise something that hasn’t come to pass before Him. There are conditions to promises, but the outcomes are all set in stone. If we are faithful to fulfill the conditions of the promise, we can be certain that God has seen it happen in the future already.

The next time you are tempted to say, “God doesn’t keep His promises,” or “I don’t think God is listening or answering,” remember what it means for God to promise something.

• Our promises and His promises are not the same. They never can be, ours may or may not materialize, but His have already come to pass.

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts."

- Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)