God Always Keeps His Promises

Have you ever made a particularly poor decision and at the root of it was just a resistance to obedience? There’s a better word for it: rebellion. And although a wide variety of life circumstances can converge—causing situations to snowball and traumas to set us down destructive paths—at one point, a choice was likely made to rebel against God’s best.

We have all made mistakes and gone off course in life, and when that happens, it’s easy to beat ourselves up. And in the times where we can acknowledge that the challenging circumstances surrounding us are the result of our own actions, it becomes easy to throw the pity party and accept defeat. But that is not God’s best for us.

When my wife was in her early 20s, she was living on her own in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since adolescence, she had struggled on and off with an eating disorder. It was during her time in Tulsa that her affliction reached a breaking point that ultimately required a two-month hospitalization.

Although she achieved a breakthrough in confronting her eating disorder during this experience, the literal cost of the treatment left her $70,000 in debt. As a young college student out on her own, she had absolutely no way to pay. She was scared and hard on herself for making unwise choices that led to this outcome.

After her treatment was complete, for months she regularly met with the hospital’s accounts representative. Sometimes she could pay $20, sometimes she had nothing, and whatever it was, it was never enough to put a serious dent in a $70,000 bill. She was overwhelmed and often felt financially destroyed. Then, something amazing began to happen. After a couple of months, the $70,000 balance dropped to $50,000. A month later, $25,000. Within six months, her account had a zero balance.

My wife never received an explanation as to why or how the account balance evaporated like it did, but she is a child of God. Despite whatever mistakes she felt she had made to put herself in this hopeless situation, God honored His promise to never leave or forsake her. This promise is alive and available to all of God’s children—and our God is the ultimate promise keeper.

This story reminds me of the mention of God’s promise to David in 2 Kings 8:19. In the text, one of David’s royal descendants, King Jehoram, had just become the latest king of Judah. The Bible says that King Jehoram did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Any student of the Bible knows that Almighty God often had a low tolerance for rebellion in Old Testament times, but then, in verse 19, we read:

For the sake of his servant David, the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah, since he had promised to give a lamp to David and his sons forever. (2 Kings 8:19 CSB)

Many of the regal descendants of David regularly did what was evil in the sight of God, and often, this evil was rooted in idolatry, putting other gods above Almighty God! Yet God never gave them what they deserved. Instead, He honored His promise and allowed them to remain the royal blood line. God honored His word regardless of the destructive and disobedient choices His children were making.

In the same way that God kept His promises thousands of years ago, He keeps His promises to His children today, tomorrow and forever. God has promised to never forsake us, and in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus promises to be with us always:

“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

Dive into your Bible and identify the promises of God that you need to reaffirm the most in your life today. Meditate on these promises and allow them to become the bedrock of your faith. Hide them away in your heart so that when challenges come, you are standing on the power of God’s promises to sustain you.

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Scripture quotations have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.