God loves to make promises. He is a promise making God, and also a promise keeping God. Sometimes we get discouraged waiting upon God to keep his promises. Until you understand HOW God does things, you will never understand why we must wait upon the Lord.
God does not make promises the same way that we make a promise. Usually when we make a promise we are shortly going to fulfill the promise, because we are building our reputation with someone. We want them to trust us, and we want them to be happy now because of the good thing we are going to do for them later. We often make promises because we want the other person to 'feel better' or that they would 'know they are loved' We cannot see the future so we make promises based on what is happening right now.
Most generally when God makes a promise it isn't with the motive of making up feel better, or just simply giving us a gift. God sees into the future, and when he gives a promise it is most often because he sees we are getting ready to go through something hard and he wants to give us a promise before we go through that challenge. The promise He gives to us to meant to be an anchor, and benefit to us, to help us to go through the storm. I have found that when God speaks a personal promise to my heart often it is because I am at the brink of going through a terrible storm. The promises is meant to be a comfort to me to help me through the storm and to come out the other side of the storm in faith. It used to confuse me that everytime God would speak something wonderful to me that often that was followed by a very trying time in my life. It would frustrate me because I would hear God say that he was going to bless me, and then boom something hard to go through would happen. It sometimes made me doubt that I heard God. But God has done as He promised and I have been greatly blessed, even though I have had to face some trying times in my life. I began to realize that often the reason that God gives us a dream or a promise is because he sees what is up ahead for our lives and he wants to give us a good promise to help us make it through our worse storms. God has done this in my life often, and as we look through the Bible we see this is how God did with others.
Right before Joseph was sold into slavery God gave him dreams and promises. The promises didn't stop him from being sold into slavery, but they were meant to be an anchor for this faith as he went through the many trials he faced. God knew the challenges that Joseph would face, so he gave him dreams about his future to keep him during the hard years.
God promised the children of Israel a land flowing with milk and honey, and that helped them endure all those years in the wilderness. God promised a rich land, but they had to go through the wilderness to get there. It is the same in our lives. Before we go through our toughest seasons God gives us a good promise of what he will do in our lives if we persevere.
God knew the challenges the Israelites would face in the wilderness, so He gave them the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey to help them go through it.
It was the same with Sarah the wife of Abraham. God knew she would have trouble baring children, so he promised her that she would give birth to whole nations. It would be terrible to hear God say to you that your children would be so numerous and then turn around and you can't get pregnant.
God knew that Sarah would have trouble conceiving children, so he gave her the promise of Isaac so that they would not give up hope.
God knew that David would have to fight giants, and enemies and be chased by the King, so he gave him the anointing and the promise that he would be King to keep him through his problems.
We receive a promise from God and then often instead of the promise coming to place in our lives quickly, often we are faced with JUST THE OPPOSITE of what promised actually happening. Look at Joseph he was promised that the sun, moon and stars would bow down to him, and then he was sold into slavery where HE had to bow to everyone. Abraham was promised a land flowing with milk and honey for him and his descendants, yet he lived in tents as a nomad. Sarah was promised a child but turned out to be barren. David was promised to be King of Israel, yet, Saul chased him out of the nation as banished and he was living with the Philistines. Here he was anointed the King of Israel by the prophets, and now he is banished by Saul and can't even live there. Yet though the opposite of what was promised happened to each of these people almost immediately after God promised them good things, in the end each of these people continued to walk with God and was eventually elevated by God to receive the promise.
Often when God gives a promise something goes VERY WRONG shortly after he gives it. Why does this happen? It happens because he sees your future, he knows when you are getting ready to go through a hard season, and He gives you a promise to help carry you through it to victory. When you cleave to the promise, you will find that you walk on the water to the other side!
We often mis-understand what is happening. God gives a promise and then things start going the opposite direction, and we want to know WHY? We want to know if we MISSED God. We want to know why God promised us such good stuff and then terrible things happened.
Think of Joseph for a minute. Here he had just told his brothers that God was going to promote him above them and then before he got a chance for him to fully grow up, he is a SLAVE in Egypt. Slavery is just the opposite of ruling others and having them bow down to you. God gave him that promise in a dream and then the exact opposite happens. The unthinkable happens, he becomes a slave. God knew he would go through these tragedies, so he gave Joseph the dreams to help him go through them. I have learned that when God gives me a promise, hold on, adversity is often between myself and the promise, and the very reason God spoke the promise to me was to help me go through the trials I would face.
IF God has given you some promises and you are going through tough things right now, know that the promise was His love for you, and in the proper time, these trials will pass, and the promise will come to you.
Maybe God promised you something good and you wonder why it seems like the opposite of what God promised you is happening in your life. You are in the same boat as all the men and woman of the Bible that receive promises from God. Let that promise that God gave you be an anchor for your life as you go through the storms and know that whatever he promised you will come to pass as you stay faithful to our God.
I know that there have been discouraging things and God brought my life through the storm into the p promises fulfilled. Don't give up. God will keep his promises.
Genesis 21 1And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
2For Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Thanks so much!! This has been very helpful and I understand much better now. I have been dealing with some anxiety and depression concerning matters in my workplace and reading your words for today on this subject has helped me greatly. May GOD bless you in all your endeavors.
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