PRAYER instead of depression and anxiety
The promises of God are certain,
but they do not all mature in ninety days.
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes,
and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
I recently read an interesting report. In 1994, a 67-year-old carpenter named Russell Herman died in Illinois. In his last will and testament, Mr. Herman left $2.4 billion to the town of Cave-In-Rock, $2.4 billion to the community of East St. Louis and $1.5 billion for projects in southeastern Illinois. That’s pretty amazing—but there’s more! In his final act of generosity, Mr. Herman also left $6 trillion to the Federal Reserve to pay off the national debt. There was only one problem: Mr. Herman only owned a 1983 Oldsmobile Toronado. Russell Herman may not have left behind anything of monetary value, but he did leave us all with a good reminder: We can’t give what we don’t possess. Mr. Herman’s promises sounded great, but he did not have the resources to make them a reality. Fortunately, that is not the case with God. Our God has the means to make good on all His promises, and in a world of broken promises, it is good to know that God can be counted on.
Have you ever thought about how many promises you have broken in your lifetime? The odds are that each of us has broken at least one promise to a spouse, a child or a friend—possibly all of the above. This kind of failure is inevitable for us because we are fallen people. Perhaps we think it’s not a big deal, but it really is, because others need to be able to count on us—especially our spouse and our children.
Let’s say you were to say to your wife, “Honey, I’d like to take you out for a cup of coffee tomorrow.” It’s important to realize that she is going to not only think about it, but also dream about it. That cup-of-coffee mini-date will have her thinking of you as her knight in shining armor—delivering a welcome break from the kids and a time of romance all wrapped around a cup of coffee. But let’s say you wake up the next day feeling a little under the weather and decide to say to your wife, “I don’t feel like getting a cup of coffee today.” How will this decision impact your wife? She’s going to be discouraged and cry or possibly be angry!
If this becomes a pattern, 20 years later, your wife is going to say to you, “You know, all you do is make promises and not keep them.”
Seriously, breaking promises can have a devastating effect on people and relationships. If we let others down, especially on an ongoing basis, sooner or later they simply will not trust that we will deliver. We must be careful about what we promise. It’s better not to promise anything than to make a commitment and then not keep our word. Bottom line, people are hurt when a promise is broken.
By the way, many people’s current emotional problems stem from broken promises in the past: Parents, friends, a spouse or even the government promised something and never delivered. Hence, many people have a very difficult time trusting others. After all, if people don’t keep their word, how can we trust anything they say?
As opposed to human beings, however, God never lies, and He will always keep His Word. We can bank on the fact that God will keep each and every promise He has ever made.
Are you overwhelmed by all the broken promises people have made? Perhaps your husband promised “’til death do us part,” only to leave you and your children for someone else. Or maybe your dad spent many of your growing-up years promising that he would go to that “next” recital or sports event, only to let you down time and again.
This is my encouragement: Even though people often let us down, God never will. Therefore, we can absolutely trust the Lord to keep His promises to us. In addition, God will help us to forgive the people who have hurt us when we learn to let the pain of our lives rest in His hands. Because people are sinners, no matter how hard they try or how close they are to the Lord, there will never be a time when we don’t experience some kind of disappointment at the hands of another person. But we can forgive people with grace because we trust God, and the Lord will uphold us with faithfulness even when others aren’t faithful.
That being said, when it comes to keeping our own commitments, we need to do our utmost to be people who keep our word, even if it results in our own hurt or inconvenience. That’s why God tells us to be careful with our words. We are responsible to think before we speak—to pray before we make a promise.
One day, when my daughter was young, she came to me asking if I would buy her a real horse. Touched by her heartfelt request, I told her to seek the Lord and ask Him because we simply couldn’t afford one at the time. She walked away discouraged, tears dripping from her eyes. My heart sank, and I felt, for the first time, mad about being broke.
As months went by, my daughter seemed to have forgotten about the whole idea of having a real horse. Then one day my little girl plopped herself down in my office and asked me how my study was coming and whether she could get me anything. I knew that she was after something, so I asked her what I could do for her. She proceeded to tell me that someone had approached her at church the night before and asked her if it was true that she was interested in having a real horse. She answered yes, and the person told her that he had a horse he would give her for free.
My daughter started to jump up and down, so excited that God had answered her prayer and that she could have a horse for free. She asked me when we could pick it up, and I had to explain to her that our family had no place to put the horse and did not have the money to rent a stall and otherwise take care of such a large animal. My daughter just stared at me as if to say, “I can’t believe that you, not only as my dad but also a pastor, would break your promise to me. You promised that if I prayed for a horse and God gave one to me, then I could have it!” Looking back, I could see that I really should have thought through the whole concept of owning a horse when the subject first came up. Instead, I broke my daughter’s heart by breaking a promise. It was a tough lesson learned.
God wants us to walk closely with Him on a daily basis so that He can help us in our commitments, relationships and promises. But even when we fail other people, the Lord is faithful to us. He is going to keep every one of His promises to us and bring us to Himself.
Now, just in case you think God’s promises are not for you, or that His promises are only for “perfect” people, I want to show you otherwise by taking a look at a man named Jacob.
Each of us has been overwhelmed at some point—perhaps at many points—in our lives. Whenever we find ourselves in one of those difficult seasons, we have to remember that the promises of God are our strength and our encouragement to keep going when the journey gets rough. These promises are an amazing gift from a gracious God. Let’s look at the story of Jacob and discover how God made great promises to this less-than-worthy man with affirmations of His presence and commitment. There are certainly applications we can make to our own journey as well.
Jacob was the son of the well-known patriarch, Isaac, and Isaac’s wife, Rebekah. Jacob also had a twin brother, Esau. Let’s begin to examine this family’s story at the point when Isaac was old and blind. Isaac summoned Esau, who was the elder brother, and said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me. And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die” (Gen. 27:2-4).
Isaac’s plan was to give Esau his blessing. In that day, the firstborn male child of a family would typically receive an extra inheritance upon his father’s death. The eldest son would get one-half of the estate, and the other children would divide equally the other portion of the estate. So Isaac sent for his firstborn son, Esau, in order to bestow this final blessing on him. He also asked his son to kill a deer, so he could eat his favorite meal of venison one more time.
Rebekah overheard her husband calling for Esau, and she sent for Jacob while Esau was out in the fields hunting. Even though Jacob was about 30 years old at this point, he was still a mama’s boy, so to speak. Rebekah wanted Jacob to receive the blessing instead of Esau, so she devised a deceptive plan.
Rebekah said, in essence, “Listen, Jacob, your father is going to give away the blessing. This is what we are going to do. I am going to go out and kill an animal, cut it up, and wrap it around your arms so that when he touches your arm, he will feel the hair and think it is Esau. Your father is going to smell you, too, so we are going to put some dirt and blood on you so that you smell like Esau.”
Rebekah then fixed a nice dinner of venison and said, “Here, Jacob, take this in to your father.”
Jacob took the meal in to Isaac and said, “Father, I was able to catch the game.” Isaac was surprised at how quickly it seemed Esau had found the game. Jacob lied to his father, basically saying, “Well, God was with me. I caught it quickly.”
Isaac’s well-founded confusion continued: “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son…. The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau” (Gen. 27:21-22). Jacob continued to deceive and lie to his father until Isaac prayed over Jacob—and the blessing came upon Jacob instead of Esau.
When Esau found out what had happened, he was naturally livid and intended to kill Jacob. Jacob fled for his life, running toward Laban, Rebekah’s brother, in Haran. Although Jacob was known as a conniver, he felt guilty and ashamed about what he had done. Not only that, but he was also tired, exhausted and overwhelmed. As he was running, he came to the Syrian Desert and found a place to sleep, because it was getting dark. The Bible says that he grabbed a rock and used it as a pillow (see Gen. 28:11). Jacob went to sleep with his head lying on that rock. That’s when God intervened in the life of Jacob and made incredible promises to him—promises that extend to us today as well.
God spoke to Jacob in a dream. Genesis 28:15 records the Lord’s words: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
In verse 16, we read Jacob’s response: “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’”
The Lord unmistakably communicated to Jacob who He was, how He would bless Jacob and that He would never leave him. These amazing promises of God are for us as well. It is common to feel like the Lord is not with us; in fact, that is often our human way of thinking. We don’t realize that God is with us on the freeway or at our workplace, but He is right there. We don’t acknowledge that God is with us when it comes time to talk to the kids or our spouse, but He is right there.
After God spoke to Jacob in that dream, Jacob realized that the Lord was in the place where he was, but he had not recognized that before. Because we are believers in Christ, the Lord has made a covenant with us never to leave us or forsake us (see Deut. 31:6). He has also promised to finish the work He has begun in us (see Phil. 1:6). The journey might get complex and thorny, but the promises of God remain absolute and steadfast.
Some of us likely feel as if we do not deserve God’s promises. Perhaps that guilt stems from an ongoing struggle with a nagging sin, an apathy toward our relationship with the Lord, or a greater desire for the world and its trappings than for spiritual things. Well, Jacob didn’t deserve God’s favor either. Here was a man who was a conniver and a deceiver—it was a way of life for him. Jacob stole Esau’s birthright in exchange for a bowl of stew (see Gen. 25:29-34). Then he conspired with his mother to deceive his own father—stealing the firstborn blessing from Esau. But in spite of all that, God indicated, “This is the man I want to bless and use to help My people.”
Just as He chose Jacob, God has also chosen us. God wants a close relationship with us and wants us to walk with Him on a daily basis. He is keenly aware that we humans are not perfect, “for He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (Ps. 103:14). Even when we are faithless, our Lord is faithful to us (see 2 Tim. 2:13). Bottom line, we sin, we fail our families, we get divorced, we lie and deceive—truly, the list of our depravity is long. Even so, the Lord is going to pick us up and never cease to be with us in the midst of any painful situation—whether one we cause by our own sin or one that is inflicted upon us. He wants relationship with His children so that His perfect will can be done in our lives. Even when we blow it—when we sin, fall down and fail—the Lord faithfully keeps every one of His promises to us.
Therefore, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in right now, we should cling to the encouragement and comfort that God is with us. He will never forsake us, and He has given us His many promises. Let’s take a closer look at three very important promises that He gave to Jacob—because they also extend their life-giving grace and blessing to each of us.
Let’s reread Genesis 28:15: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
The first promise we’ll examine is: “Behold, I am with you.” That’s downright awesome, don’t you think? The fact that God is with us should encourage our hearts, especially when we are overwhelmed by trials and problems. That means, when we are righteous, pure and holy, God is with us. That also means, however, that when we have backslidden and made mistakes, God is with us. Finally, even when we are nasty and mean toward others or angry toward God, He is still with us. We undoubtedly can be unstable and sway with the wind, but God is constant in His promise, and His faithfulness toward us never changes.
If we truly fathomed the reality that God is with us at every moment, we would think and act much differently. Like Jacob, who said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it” (Gen. 28:16), we, too, can be unaware of His presence—and act like we think He is nowhere nearby. I felt that way during the early part of my time in the hospital. I just didn’t feel like the Lord was with me in that hospital room. He was, of course, and if I had recognized that truth sooner, no doubt my hospital stay would have been much more peaceful, encouraging and uplifting to others.
The author of Hebrews says, “Let your conduct [or better yet, translated directly from the Greek, ‘your manner of life’] be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5). The verse is crystal clear. Will God leave us? Never. Will God forsake us? Never. We belong to Him.
As I mentioned earlier, sometimes we mistakenly assume that God is not with us because we have backslidden, are sinning or are not walking closely with Him. Yet, even in our backslidden state, God is still with us. The Lord has not left us, even if we have fallen away. However, once again enjoying His fellowship requires that we repent and reconnect with Him.
The apostle Peter laid out this principle: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). It’s critical that we pay close attention to this. When we have backslidden or fallen away from the Lord, it’s unnecessary to be saved again or to bring Jesus back into our hearts—because He never left us. What we do have to do is “repent therefore” so that “times of refreshing may come.” Just like when our computer stalls, we sometimes need to hit the “refresh” button to get our relationship with God back on the right track.
Let me reiterate: Any idea that we have to be resaved is wrong. All we need to do, at any moment, is call on God’s never-ending mercy and His constant presence with these words: “God, forgive me. Please, make Yourself known to me. Help me understand that You are here. God, You gave me a promise: You are never going to leave me or forsake me.” Then we must believe in faith that He has heard and forgiven—and walk forward in confidence and with transformed actions.
The apostle Paul, while preaching to people in Athens, communicated the truth that, although God is great and “not served by human hands,” He also is always surrounding us and calling us to seek Him. Paul declared, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:25-28, NIV).
So we live, we move, and we have our being in the presence of God. That means, when Jacob was in the tent deceiving Isaac, God was there with him. When Jacob fled down that dusty road from his brother, Esau, God traveled alongside him. When Jacob went to sleep in the desert, God was still with him. And while Jacob was sleeping, God woke him up, so to speak. Jacob realized something was different when God gave him that dream. What did Jacob discover? That God was there. This truth is vitally important for us to realize as well. Allowing our feelings of being overwhelmed, lonely or in despair to bring us down must be battled, because God has promised that He is with us and will never leave us or forsake us.
Genesis 28:15 also contains the second promise of God to Jacob—and to us. God says, “I … will keep you wherever you go.”
He will keep us wherever we go. In other words, because we are God’s children, He promises to make sure we finish the race. First Peter 1:5 relays that Peter is writing to believers—to those “who are kept by the power of God.” A lifelong walk of faith is too much for us to handle without God’s power. Our job is to fix our eyes on Jesus, and the Lord’s job is to keep us in the faith until the end.
One New Testament writer, Jude, refers to God as “Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24). The Lord will keep us from walking out or quitting. We struggle, it seems, to realize just how much God wants to help us. He doesn’t leave things in our hands. We’ve all heard people sigh and complain, “It seems like everything is up to me.” But that is the enemy’s lie to us as believers. God promises not only to be with us at every moment for the rest of our lives, but also to keep us in the faith until the end. His keeping power can stop us from going down the path of destruction; it can hold marriages together. Bottom line, He alone can protect lives from falling apart.
The apostle Paul, who put his very existence into the hands of this promise-keeping God, eloquently wrote, “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Tim. 1:12). If we have given God our heart and our life, then He has promised to keep them. What we give God, we are never going to lose.
Would you agree that nothing is too hard for God? The prophet Jeremiah was convinced of that truth, exalting God’s greatness with these words: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You” (Jer. 32:17). With that in mind, do we really think that the problem we are currently overwhelmed by is too much for God to handle? Can He not accomplish His perfect and good will in us through this problem? The enemy would like for us to believe the lie that our situation is hopeless, but it’s not too hard for God to find a job, to heal a marriage or to bring back prodigal children. Whatever problems or trials we are facing today, it’s critical to believe in faith that God is able to fix them and even work through them to bring about His good and perfect will.
Notice the last part of Genesis 28:15: “for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” This part of the promise should produce wonderful relief. God finishes what He starts. He’s not going to leave anything undone in our lives. That means, the work He is doing in our marriage, He is going to continue until He is done. The work He is doing in our hearts, He is going to bring to completion. God’s keeping power will keep us walking in His way until He takes us home to live forever with Him. That’s a promise we can take to the bank!
What did Jesus say to the men who would become His disciples? “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19).
God promises to make, mold and transform us into the people He wants us to be. He will hone our gifts and strengths and exercise our personality, not only to bring other people to Him, but also to make us the best we can be. We can without doubt be “confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in [us] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). Therefore, as Paul assures us in this affirmation of God’s promises, the Lord will make us a better businessman, a better husband, a better dad, a better mom, a better wife, a better pastor, a better disciple, a better student and a better friend. God is going to build each of us into a holy person who reflects His glory and character.
One key method the Lord uses in transforming us into better people is working through the trials He allows in our lives. The Lord uses these trials and problems to mold us into His image. He will not leave us as the people we are now, but is faithful to complete His good work. Like an artist perfecting his masterpiece, God is chiseling us into a beautiful mirrored image of Jesus Christ. He wants others to see His reflection when they look at us, watch our behaviors, and hear us speak. Only God has the wisdom and perfect plan to shape us into the people He wants us to be; He alone has the patience, the power and the stick-to-itiveness to complete the task.
God’s promises are real. He will never break them. We can count on His utter faithfulness to fulfill His promises; when we make this choice of faith and trust, we will find that we are overwhelmed by God instead of our problems. It bears repeating: God will never leave us or forsake us. In summary, let’s revisit the immeasurable promises of God. First, God says, “I am with you.” This promise banishes loneliness as a reality. Second, He says, “I will keep you.” He will keep us in what we are doing, from what we are doing, away from the enemy and the enemy away from us.
Finally, God will make us—building into us, producing character in us and making us better people. Just as Jacob received the promises of God for his life, so too can we. Let’s soak in and be grateful for this promise: “The Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deut. 7:9). I’m grateful for our promise-keeping God; are you?
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. God has promised to finish the work He has begun in us. What are the three important promises that God gave to Jacob and to us?
2. What does God mean when He promises us, “I am with you”?
3. What does God mean when He promises us, “I will keep you”?
4. What does God mean when He promises us, “I will make you”?
Lord, thank You that You overwhelm my life with Your promises and Your presence. I know that Your hand is upon every aspect of my life, and that Your plans for me are good to an expected end. Thank You that You will not leave me in the state I am in, but that You have a purpose and a calling for me, and that You are committed to completing Your work in me. Put my eyes back upon You, I pray. Strengthen me with Your power and help me to bear fruit in all that I do. I want to shine for Your glory and not be pressed down by my circumstances and feelings. Help me to stand upon Your promises and faithful presence today and in the days ahead. Refresh me, encourage me and be the lifter of my head. Fill me with Your peace and let me be overwhelmed by You, I pray. Amen.