Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age
(Genesis 21:2).
THEME: GOD'S TRUSTWORTHINESS
In John Bunyan's PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, Giant Despair captured Christian and Hopeful and held them as prisoners in Doubting Castle. They escaped when Christian remembered he had the key called Promise.
Like Christian, we forget God's guarantees. We can't imagine a world without wordmongers who write worthless warranties and politicians who separate promise and performance.
God made promises in the garden and after the Flood, but his words to senior citizens Abraham and Sarah make up the opening chapter of God's promise book to Israel. God assured them that they would be proud parents and that from their lone child a great nation would be born.
Isaac and the nation of Israel escaped the womb a long time ago, and it might be easy to dismiss a God who announces his intentions only to those very old and hard of hearing. We might accuse Him of empty promises except for another child of promise--Jesus Christ.
The long-awaited Bethlehem Baby was the official heir to God's kingdom, and He unselfishly passed on the key called Promise.
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JAN 29
GENESIS 15:1-6
"Look now toward heaven, and count the stars" (Genesis 15:5).
Nature can nurture faith. God told Abraham to look at the heavens and contemplate the infinite number of stars. Then He said, "So shall your descendants be." God was saying to Abraham that if He could create and maintain all those stars, He'd have no trouble keeping His promise that Abraham would have a son. The patriarch understood, for we read that "he believed in the Lord" (Ge 15:6).
An OUR DAILY BREAD reader, Mr. T. C. Roddy, Jr., from Rusk, Texas, wrote, "In my front yard are six huge oak trees that must be over 100 years old. . . . I ponder as I look at them and realize that the leaves must have barrels of fresh water each day to stay green. As a retired engineer, I know that no pump ever devised or designed by man could force that amount of water through the dense wooden trunk of these trees. Yet God causes their roots to gather all the water these trees need . . . . To do this, these roots must exert a working pressure of more than 3,000 pounds per square foot just to move the water up to the leaves--not considering the resistance of the wood in the tree trunk. That is just another of God's 'miracles' that occur every day unnoticed."
When we have trouble believing God for the solution to some pressing problem, we can enter the classroom of creation and observe the wonders of nature. Doing so strengthens our faith in the promises found in our textbook, the Bible.
--D.J.D.
All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. --Ralph Waldo Emerson
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JAN 30
GENESIS 17:1-8, 15-22
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed (Genesis 17:17).
Who wouldn't laugh--a century-old man being told he will become a father, and that his ninety-year-old wife will bear a child? The whole idea must have seemed ridiculous to Abraham. Yet he received the news with great delight. Bowing before God, he expressed his surprise, wonder, and gladness--with no hint of unbelief. In Genesis 18, however, Sarah laughed and God rebuked her. Sarah laughed in unbelief. Abraham laughed in faith.
In a lecture, C. H. Spurgeon said that many Scriptures remain clouded until some trying experience interprets them for us. He told of riding home after a heavy day's work feeling weary and downhearted. Suddenly 2 Corinthians 12:9 came to his mind, "My grace is sufficient for you." Spurgeon said, "I reached home and looked it up in the original, and at last it came to me in this way. 'My grace is sufficient for YOU.' Said I, 'I should think it is,' and I burst out laughing. I never understood what the holy laughter of Abraham was until then. It seemed to make unbelief so absurd. . . . O brethren, be great believers! Little faith will bring your souls to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your souls."
Our faith grows as we grow in our awareness of God's faithfulness. Old promises become joyful surprises with fresh meaning. We see that the all-powerful, all-sufficient God keeps His Word. Then we, too, can laugh the holy laughter of a faith that considers unbelief absurd.
--D.J.D.
Faith expects from God what is beyond all human expectation.
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JAN 31
HEBREWS 10:19-25
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope . . . for He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).
Suppose a wealthy man were to give you a note saying, "Sometime in the future, a time I've decided upon, you will receive fifty thousand dollars that I have set aside for you." Although you might become impatient as you wait for the money, you would confidently expect to get it. But if that same man were to say, "If everything works out, I might give you fifty thousand dollars" you'd expect the money only if he didn't go bankrupt, change his mind, forget his promise, or die. The first situation carries the greatest certainty.
That's the way it is in God's economy. His promises are dated in heaven. And since we know only "in part" (1 Co 13:12), we don't always know when they will be fulfilled. But that doesn't matter, for we do have the confidence that God will keep them. Nor does this diminish the value of God's promises, for He backs them all with the infinite riches of His character. He never changes. He never forgets His Word. He never dies. God may seem to delay the fulfillment of a promise, but we can be encouraged that every promise is as good as His word.
Most of us have come to the end of our resources. And there we have discovered that God, at the right time and in the right way, imparted His strength. He was neither slow nor tardy. So we need not be discouraged. We can keep on claiming the promises. God is the faithful promiser.
--P.R.V.
Our prospects are as bright as the promises of God.
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FEB 01
1 KINGS 8:54-61
"Blessed be the Lord. . . . There has not failed one word of all His good promise" (1 Kings 8:56).
A man who lived in northern Michigan went for a walk in a dense forest so immense that a person could easily get lost. When darkness began to settle in, he decided it was time to head home. He was used to being in the woods and had a keen sense of direction, so he didn't bother to look at his compass. After walking for a long time, however, he decided he'd better check to make sure he was going in the right direction. He was surprised when the compass indicated he was going west--not east as he had thought. But the man was so sure of his own sense of direction that he thought there must be something wrong with the compass. He was about to throw it away in disgust when the thought came to him: My compass has never lied to me yet--maybe I should believe it. The man eventually found his way out of the woods and arrived home safely because he trusted his compass and didn't rely on himself.
Solomon told the congregation of Israel that not "one word of all His good promise" had failed. That assurance still stands. What God promises, He performs. His instructions are always trustworthy. He will never lead us astray. If we think so highly of our own judgment that we refuse to rely on God's sure word, we are asking for trouble and will only become more confused. His words have never failed, and they never will.
--R.W.D.
The Bible always points the believer in the right direction.
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FEB 02
GENESIS 18:1-14
"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14).
The Lord is able to meet all our needs, whatever they may be. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Sarah needed to learn this truth. God's promise to give Abraham a son named Isaac is recorded in Genesis 17:21. In the next chapter that assurance was repeated to the patriarch as he talked outside his tent with three men sent from God. This time Sarah overheard the conversation. To her, having a child at her advanced age was an impossibility, so she "laughed within herself" (v. 12). The Lord then said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (vv. 13-14). God was asking Abraham a rhetorical question to which the obvious answer was no.
As Christians, we have the same assurance. Abraham's God is our God, and He is omnipotent. He's the Creator of the universe. Nothing exceeds His power. No problem intimidates Him. No obstacle is too big for Him. Everything is possible with Him. Our heavenly Father is in control of every situation. What comfort we can find in this truth! What confidence it gives us!
The all-knowing, everywhere-present, all-powerful Creator and sovereign God can do anything. When we present our petitions to our heavenly Father in prayer, making sure we ask according to His will, He assures us that nothing is too hard for Him.
--R.W.D.
We do not prove the resources of God until we trust Him for the impossible.
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FEB 03
PSALM 89:30-37
My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips (Psalm 89:34).
When a couple left for vacation, their newly married son and daughter-in-law promised to watch the house, take in the mail, and keep the lawn mowed. The couple hadn't been gone very long before they began to worry. What if the young people were careless about locking the doors, and all their possessions were stolen? What if they didn't pick up the mail, and some checks were stolen? And what if the lawn weren't mowed? What would the neighbors think? The couple nearly ruined their vacation with worry, and they even cut it short by a couple days. When they returned, however, they found the lawn mowed, the mail taken care of, and the house in perfect order. They realized how foolish they had been. Their children had kept their word.
So it is with God. He keeps His word. Isaiah declared that "the word of our God stands forever" (40:8). This brings us great comfort and can free us from worry because it means that God will keep every promise. Here are just a few: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all" (Ps 34:19). "No weapon formed against you shall prosper" (Isa 54:17). "I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you" (Isa 41:10). "No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly" (Ps. 8411).
Those who tend to fret or doubt unnecessarily, can lay hold of a promise and remind themselves that God always keeps His word.
--D.C.E.
When we worry, we believe more in our problems than in God's promises.
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FEB 04
PSALM 15
Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? He who swears to his own hurt and does not change (Psalm 15:1, 4).
I wish I could say I have always done what I said I would do. I'd like to be able to claim that even if I have done nothing else in life, I have at least kept all my promises. But I can't.
I also wish I could say that what I have not done affects only me. But again, that would be untrue. Not only have I hurt those who have depended on me, but I have also displeased the Lord in the process.
What I say I will do matters to God. Psalm 15 leaves no doubt about that. It says that the person with whom God shares His presence is one who walks with integrity and speaks the truth in his heart. It says that such a person does not misrepresent others. It says that when he makes a promise, he does what he said he would do, even if it requires personal sacrifice and pain.
The Lord, who has lovingly and mercifully forgiven me, has a record that is different from mine. He adheres flawlessly to the highest standards of integrity. Time and distraction have never kept Him from doing what He said He would do. Even to the point of sacrificing His own Son, He has kept His commitment to punish sin while remaining merciful to all who place their trust in Him.
Because He is true, I as His child and follower should be too. Only as my faith in Him translates into honest living will I become fit for the presence of the One who has so mercifully given Himself to me.
--M.R.D.II
There is one thing Christians give and still must keep--their word.
