2006-11-27 - It's A Promise

Hebrews 13:5 "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

The promises Of God are precious. When we can take an issue and say, "God has said," it ends all argument. The power of God when He speaks is like no other. We can make bold statements and promises, but how effective really are our words or promises, to see things to the end? We are rather feeble, even when we have the best intentions. However, when God speaks, there are authority and ability behind His words.

When we can say, "God has said," we are saying that the One who made Heaven and Earth, who never changes, who has all power, who was before all time, is, and will be forevermore: When we say that He has said, then that really is saying something. Now when we can say that God has promised, we ought to all take note and mark what He has promised. What has He promised in this verse? He has promised that He will never leave us, nor forsake us.

He will never leave us or forsake us. This means that we can say with confidence that no matter how low our condition becomes, the love of God is sustaining and upholding us. However weak we are, the strong arms of God are holding us up. They will uphold us from sinking, to the end of time. Others may forsake us; let them go their way. His promise is that He will never leave us or forsake us.

He says He will never leave us or forsake us, but what of our promises to Him? Have we not said the very same thing to Him? Have we not been like Peter, promising that even though all others forsake Thee, I will not? We were sure of it. We have looked around at others and wondered how they could be so untrue to God, forsaking Him left and right. What became of all our promises? Let us reflect back a moment. Has not the cock that crowed for Peter crowed for us? Too many times have we said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you," and had those very words end up accusing us.

How unkindly have we often treated the Lord with our promises? If we have not denied Him with our voice like Peter, has not our heart done so? When we think of how unkindly we have treated the Lord, may this promise stand out boldly to us. He has promised that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. We may have forgotten Him in times past, but His lovingkindness has not changed at all.

We often make promises to one another, saying, "I will do this for you, if you do this for me." Sometimes we might say, "I will not do this, as long as you do not do that." There are any number of combinations we could use here. Notice that this promise here in Hebrews has no conditions attached to it. There are no conditions of a positive or a negative nature in regard to this promise. He does not say that He will never leave us or forsake us if we do this or that, or if we forsake doing certain things. His promise is just that He will never leave us or forsake us.

Lastly, there is not a day, not an hour, not a minute, not a second that this promise is not true. There are no gaps or breaks in God's love. He doesn't get distracted. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't get tired of His promises. Let us rest fast in His precious promises.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

godrulestb@aol.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
http://www.papercutpress.com