Silly Points of Note

On Promises (1)

“...the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple”  Psalm 19:7

 “For know the thoughts that think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29: 11

There is no promise of God that does not come with a journey. This is the first rule of having a grounded reality, which you must allow to sink in if you are going to have a chance of seeing that promise become a reality. Our idea of a promise is like a dad telling his son that he will be getting that bike in his next birthday. The boy whoops for joy and simply waits in happy expectation for his birthday so that he can receive his bike.

That boy does not have to do anything as such but wait for the bike. This is not how the promises of God work. A promise from God secretly serves as an announcement of an impending journey.

Abraham was given several promises, one of which was that he was going to inherit a land. He was also promised a child that would come from his wife. In both cases, God immediately sent him out on a journey. In the case of inheriting land, the journey was more visible and acceptable to Abraham. He had no qualms setting out with his family to the land he was to inherit; it made sense that he had to go to the land that he was to inherit.

Now he may have had other thoughts as it concerns him inheriting the said land. He may have been expecting that he was the one that was going to inherit the land. This was not how it happened. It took years of sojourning in that land, believing that this was the land he was going to inherit before God leveled with him, telling him that the said inheritance would occur some 400 years after his death.

The journey associated with the promise was clear for all to see in this case but the same cannot be said of his wife giving him a son. In fact, it got to a point in his life when he had completely given up on the idea of his wife giving birth to a child and was content with the son he had from the wife’s servant. However, he was in the middle of a not-so-visible journey with God with regard to that promise, a promise that was eventually fulfilled.

This means that the journey associated with every promise of God may be visible or hidden. This does not take anything away from the fact that the journey is an integral part of His promises. David was anointed King in the presence of a select few. They were part of a momentous occasion but it was not everyone that was present at the anointing, which was in effect the revelation of a promise that was alive at his inauguration as King. The period between his anointing and inauguration was so long that Samuel who did the anointing had died of old age. He did not live to see it happen.

Taking this as a reality check can help in dealing with pressing issues and disappointment as it concerns the promises of God. There is just no promise from God that does not have a journey attached to it.