God of Kept Promises
Passage to Read: Hebrews 06: 13 - 20
God made a promise to Abraham.
And as there is no one greater than God,
he used himself when he swore to Abraham,
saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”
Abraham waited patiently for this to happen,
and he received what God promised.
(Hebrews 6: 13-15)
As we progress through each phase of our life, we come across numerous promises. A lot of promises are made in the name of someone who is better than the person who is making the promise. Some even casually say "Ah. Promises are made to be broken." In the midst of such promises we find God as the greatest to promise. God promises us with numerous blessings and a lot of times we neglect the patience to wait for it. It is in regard, I would like to turn our thought today towards the strong link between God's promises and faith-filled patience.
The passage we have read above, and especially the verse I have chosen to meditate on, show the importance of this relationship. The above verses clearly describe that God made a promise to Abraham saying "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants" and the description of this promise is followed by a life of example; Abraham waited patiently and received what God promised him. Two things to learn about the promises God makes, and two to learn about the faith we must have.
First of all. Abraham only wanted a child, but God promised to (1) bless him and (2) give him many descendants. Isn't that such a wonderful thing to realise? Abraham's worries and needs could have been only having a child. He was wealthy, he had everything he wanted except a child. And we find God promising Abraham to 'bless' him and then not just to give him a child, but to give him many descendants. I smiled when I realised this truth; a smile of confidence in my Lord my God. A lot of time our thoughts are short-term. Our aims are just a few years. Our needs are immediate! But God promises things in a long-term, for centuries and millennia, and with a plan for eternity. Next time when you run to God with an immediate need, do not be surprised when promises to bless you with the abundance of the same request; He did that to Abraham and God kept His promise!
You may run to God asking for the little things so that you may be satisfied for the moment, but God promises you the wholesome of blessing and the uncountable of your single request. Next time when you tell your need to God, remember God is blessing you. When God blesses you, it is like a full package, a full option. He blesses you in every part of your life. That's why I always encourage my friends to bless each other in the name of the Lord because a blessing is full. It has no limitations, it has no defaults and deletions. And when you pray for something immediate or presently needed, remember God is already looking further!
Secondly, look at what Abraham did in response to this promise. Abraham waited patiently and received the blessings. Waiting patiently is the hardest part of receiving the promised blessings from God. We must wait patiently. Because when we wait patiently, still believing in the promises God has made to us, we are expressing our faith. 'Waiting patiently for a promise' is the human way of expressing our faith in God. As human beings, we do not know what will happen next minute; we are beings with the knowledge of the past and the present. And when we patiently wait, it expresses our faith in God. It shows that we really trust Him with His words. It shows, come what may, we are assured in His promises. So wait patiently for God's time, and if it is given later than you expected it to be, do not grumble, do not refuse, do not complain that it was not given in the time you wanted it. I can assure you that God gives His promises at the right time when we really needed it, not maybe when we wanted it. The second thing that we should do is, we should receive it with a full heart. Not complaining, not refuse to say "I don't need it." We have to wait patiently and receive it with a full heart. When we do so, we are going to have two important things.
Firstly, we are going to enjoy the promise God has given at the right time and secondly, as faithful servants of God, we will be part of God's great purpose to be done on the earth. Abraham only thought about his child, but God thought of the genealogy of Christ Jesus. Abraham thought only about his family, God thought about the entire world. God blessed Abraham and kept His promise to him, so that one day, after centuries, Christ Jesus would come in that line to save the world from sin.
God is promising you blessings and multiples and magnitudes of what you have asked of Him. God will keep His promise. But what you have to do is, wait patiently for His promise as an expression of your faith in God's promise and receive it with a full heart and joy when God gives you what you wanted in His time.
I pray that the faith through Christ Jesus and the help of the Holy Spirit guide you towards patiently waiting for God's promises and to receive them in multiples.
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
