When life comes crashing down around us, we’re left to face an ugly truth. God didn’t keep His promises. Our marriages smolder in burning ash heaps. Our kids are locked up in juvie. The happiness we deserve got flushed down the toilet when we got laid off from our job. Bahamas vacation? Cancelled due to hurricane.
Promises? Yeah, promises to be happy and successful. Promises that we wouldn’t ever be given more than we could handle. But our children get sick, our mother’s have Alzheimer’s disease, and our husbands are unfaithful. Broken promises from a God we can’t trust.
I’m afraid this is the sad reality of many women all over the world. They feel God has let them down and they’re left to pick up the pieces of their broken lives by themselves.
Did God break His promises?
NEVER.
The only ugly truth we face when we believe God has broken a promise is the fact that we’ve believed a lie. This is truth: God is incapable of breaking a promise.
“I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips.” Psalm 89:34
The world presents God as a loving Father who “just wants us to be happy.” Even non-religious women pray for prosperity, happiness, and safety. Christian women, too. Listen to your own prayers. Listen to public prayers. Continue to bless us. Keep us safe. Give us healing. Help our new business be successful.
When things fall apart? We stop praying; stop going to worship. It feels like He’s not listening. God is distant. I can’t face that kind rejection anymore. What am I getting out of it? God gave up on me.
This kind of imagery brings to mind a giant vending machine. Prayers in = blessings out. If we pray pretty prayers, He will continue to bless us. This kind of thinking, (I admit, I’ve been guilty at times) leads us to believe that God promised prosperity, happiness, romantic marriages, and fulfilling relationships at church.
He didn’t. We aren’t assured of any of those things.
But instead of focusing on what He hasn’t promised, I want to spend the remainder of this article focused on what he HAS promised. This is what we can rely on. Always. Forever.
He has promised refuge. The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. Proverbs 18:10
He has promised to be a Father. Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. Psalm 68:5
He has promised safety from too much temptation. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
He has promised redemption. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace… Ephesians 1:7
He has promised to come again. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:1-3
In the face of difficulty, when we feel God hasn’t kept His promises, we must turn our hearts to the word of God instead of the ways of the world. God’s promises are solid, yet we can fall back on them when our world crumbles. We will never be forsaken. We will always have a father. He loves us and forgives us.
He is not a vending machine of blessing, but a God who sees deeper and further than we can. He values suffering for its ability to cleanse and focus our heart toward Him. He values broken things because He alone can renew them. He is a God who’s able to be everything we need when we need it. In the face of grief, He is a Comforter. In the face of sin, He is a Redeemer. In the face of danger, He is a Refuge.
Stand on the true promises of God and He will never let you down.
Blessings,
Kelli Hughett