Devotional #4: Believing in God’s Promises
“Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”
– Joshua 21:45 NIV
One of the more shocking remarks I heard during my cancer battle came only a week or two after my diagnosis. A friend of mine called and said, “You need more faith. God’s answers are always ‘Yes and Amen.’” I had heard this saying many time. Years later, I looked up the exact scripture and learned that my friend’s statement was scripturally unfounded, but served as a good reminder to not presume Christians are quoting or interpreting scripture accurately. The actual verse comes from 2 Corinthians 1:20, which states, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.”
Obviously God does not answer “Yes” to everything we ask of Him, regardless of how much faith we have. If that were not so, I would have won the lottery ten times over! Of course, it is right and proper for us to bring our requests before our God, especially for healing. This particular scripture, however, is talking about the promises of God, and not about our requests. It is true that God cannot renege on a promise. But it is equally untrue that by having enough faith God will always answer “yes and amen.” The next verse states, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.” As a suffering person, I read this to say that I need to trust God to carry me and keep me firm through my painful journey. It also reminded me of particular promises God had made to me. I know that God cannot go back on His promises. This is shown throughout scripture, and it logically follows that if God is perfect, He would not be able to break His promises. To illustrate this, let’s consider the Israelites. By the time the scripture in Joshua declared that “Not one of the Lord’s good promise to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled,” I count five major promises that had been fulfilled. You may even be able to count more:
· God promised Noah that He would never again destroy with Earth with a flood.- Genesis 9:8-11 NIV
· God made a covenant to Abraham to greatly increase his numbers, make him the father of many nations, and to provide him and his descendants the land of Caanan- Genesis 17:1-8 NIV.
· God promised Sarah she would give birth to Isaac in her old age.- Genesis 18:9-13 NIV.
· God revealed to Joseph in a dream that his family would bow down to him. At time in Joseph’s life this appeared impossible, but God’s promise came to fulfillment and culminated in a beautiful story of forgiveness where Joseph told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 37, 39-50
· God brought his people out of Egypt (Exodus) and into the Promised land. (Joshua 1-24).
If you or a loved one is fighting cancer undergoing any other form of life threatening illness, I encourage you to reflect on the promises He has made to you. There are promises He makes to all of us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 NIV. If God has made promises to you (and He has), He will not fail you in those promises.
For Additional Study & Discussion
1. Think of a promise God has made to you. How has God fulfilled that promise? If you are still waiting for the promise to be fulfilled, does the promise give you hope?
2. Above, I referenced promises made to Abraham and the Israelites in the earlier Old Testament books. What other promises does God make throughout scripture? How have we seen these promises fulfilled?
3. How does God’s gift of salvation through Christ fulfill a promise, or promises?