(By Meghan Labrecque) – Have you ever known someone you could trust completely? Or someone who had never let you down? Or someone who has never lied? It is hard to imagine there is such a person out there. It almost seems impossible to think that there could be such a being that would never hurt you or lie to you. The world is filled with many surprises, one being that there is someone out there like that, God. God, surprisingly, will never let you down. He will never lie to you. He will never tell you He will do something and turn around and not do it, or forget about it!
If we look in the Bible we see that it is filled with promises from God. Starting all the way in Genesis, one well known promise is the one He gave to Abram and Sarai (God later changed their names to Abraham and Sarah; read Genesis 17). All throughout Genesis, starting around chapter 12, God promised Abram that he would be a father of a mighty nation, and that his offspring would be more numerous than the stars in the sky. Abram, when he received this promise, was pleased and excited, but soon after thought that God would not follow through with His promise. So, Abram got so anxious that the promise wasn’t going to be fulfilled that his wife’s maid servant bore him a son (don’t worry this was normal back than). After that God assured Abram that He would fulfill His promise, and that He hadn’t forgotten. Long story short, Sarah and Abraham (names changed in the process) had a son even in their old age. They didn’t believe it, and the older they got the more they doubted, but God fulfilled His promise. (Genesis 12-21).
That is just one story in the Bible of how faithful God is. There are many more. If we were to look at each of them (which, for your sake and mine, I am not going to do), we would see that God does not let down the ones He loves. We do see in the Bible a few instances where God promises wrath, but does not follow through with it because of His mercy (look at Numbers 25!). So, think about this: God is someone who promises good things and gives them, and He is one who promises wrath, but will show mercy; unfathomable!
Isn’t it amazing to think that God wants us to have good things. He wants to give to us. In the new testament, God makes promises to everyone. He promises us eternal life (John 5:24), He promises us freedom (Galatians 5:1), He promises us peace (John 14:27), He promises us love (1 John 4:10), He promises us adoption into His family (Romans 8:16-18), the list goes on and on, but look at how great these promises are! Who wouldn’t want to receive these things! God wants to give them to us; He wants to show us His love. We need to realize that God is not like our friends, or our teachers, or our parents, or siblings. He is perfect and He will never let you down. God is faithful even when we are not (Romans 3:3).