Does God really keep His promises?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 89:38-52

TO CHEW ON: "Nevertheless My lovingkindnesses I will not utterly take from him

Nor allow My faithfulnesses to fail ...

But you have cast off and abhorred.

You have been furious with Your anointed.

You have renounced the covenant of Your servant

You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground." Psalm 89:34, 38-39.

Ethan the Ezrahite closes his meditation on God's promises to David by expressing something that's really bothering him: the fact that God's promises and what's happening don't seem to agree.

The promise was: "His seed shall endure forever, his throne as the sun... established forever like the moon" Psalm 89:36,37.

But David's kingly line runs into problems. Ethan (a Levite, worship leader, and contemporary of Solomon - 1 Kings 4:30-31) sees that, and in this psalm brings to God's attention the way He is seemingly going back on His promise to David. Whether Ethan knew the extent of the demise of David's kingly line is unclear. But what he saw concerned him.

Did God lie to David? Or is there another fulfillment that Ethan couldn't see?

I believe there is. A footnote in my Bible draws our attention to it:

"This is a messianic psalm reaffirming the Davidic covenant in which his Seed shall reign. It shows that God is able to rescue His promise from the depths of the grave, if necessary, to fulfill it" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 755.

Though our Bible commenter makes it sound as if God was taken off-guard here, forced to do an emergency "rescue," I don't believe He was stymied for a minute by the fall of the David's royal family. He knew, from before creation, what would happen. Jesus' birth that first Christmas 2000+ years ago was no emergency Plan B.

This psalm underlines the fact that we can trust God's promises even when it appears He has gone back on them. To doubt God's faithfulness on the basis of what we see with our limited vision and understanding reminds me of another truth about God's ways:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts" − Isaiah 55:8,9

When we're tempted to doubt God, let's review His promised faithfulness (e.g. 1 Kings 8:56; Romans 4:21; 2 Corinthians 1:20). Then, no matter what it looks like, let's carry on trusting in what God has said and praising the Lord, as Ethan does, even when we don't see:

"Blessed be the Lord forevermore!

Amen and Amen" - Psalm 89:52.

PRAYER: Dear God, even as I trust Your promise of salvation and eternal life, help me to depend on all Your other promises. Amen.

MORE: The importance of God's unchangeableness

"...if we stop for a moment to imagine what it would be like of God could change, the importance of this doctrine becomes more clear. For example, if God could change (in his being, perfections, purposes, or promises), then any change would be either for the better or for the worse.


But if God changed for the better, then he was not the best possible being when we first trusted him. And how could we be sure that he is the best possible being now?


But if God could change for the worse (in his very being), then what kind of God might he become? Might he become, for instance, a little bit evil rather than wholly good? And if he could become a little bit evil, then how do we know he could not change to become largely evil—or wholly evil?


...if God could change in regard to his promises, then how could we trust him completely for eternal life? Or for anything else the Bible says? ...


A little reflection like this shows how absolutely important the doctrine of God's unchangeableness is. If God is not unchanging, then the whole basis of our faith begins to fall apart, and our understanding of the universe begins to unravel. This is because our faith and hope and knowledge all ultimately depend on a person who is infinitely worthy of trust—because he is absolutely and eternally unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises" - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 168 (paragraphing added to make it easier to read; emphasis as in the original text).

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A promise-keeping God

David crowned king in Hebron - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 89:19-37

TO CHEW ON: "Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him,
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail." Psalm 89:33

In this psalm Ethan the Ezrahite praises God for His faithfulness to Israel for giving her David as a king (Psalm 89:20,21). Through David's line and God's covenant with him, they will survive as a nation (Psalm 89:22-29). Even their disobedience won't cause God to go back on His promises, though God will punish their sin (Psalm 89:30-37).

This psalm also has a prophetic tone. There are many places in it that remind us of Jesus:

• He had power over the sea (Psalm 89:25 compare Matthew 8:26,27).

• He repeatedly referred to God as His Father (Psalm 89:26 compare to John 5, 8, 10, 14, 15).

• Paul called Him the "firstborn over all creation" (Psalm 89:27 compare to Colossians 1:15-17).

• His throne / kingdom will last forever (Psalm 89:29, 36-37 compare to Luke 1:33).

• He took the stripes for our sin (Psalm 89:32 compare to Isaiah 53:5 and Mark 15:15, Matthew 27:26).

God keeps His promises. The nation of Israel survives to this day. Millions have accepted God's free gift of salvation over the centuries because Jesus paid the penalty for our sin on the cross and then rose again to conquer sin's final penalty, death.

Are you in a place today where God seems distant and His promises broken?  Do you feel like He's forgotten you and left you to your own devices? Remember He is still the God of Ethan the Ezrahite and Moses and the New Testament writers. His faithfulness will not fail:

"Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments" - Deuteronomy 7:9.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" - Hebrews 13:8.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for being a God who keeps promises. When You feel far away, help me to keep trusting You and the promises You have made. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Faith that remembers

Miracle of the Loaves - by Alexandre Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 9:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere …. So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover  fragments were taken up by them." Luke 9:6,17

Put yourself in the place of Jesus' disciples in this passage. The things they experienced over the course of the events we read about must have rocked their view of life.

• Jesus sent them out without provisions and supplies, yet their needs were met.

• They were successful at preaching and healing.

• They were part of the miraculous multiplication of five loaves and two fish so that 5,000 ate and twelve baskets of fragments were left over.

And yet Judas later betrayed Jesus, they all fled when the soldiers came to arrest Him, Peter denied Him, and Thomas demanded proof that He was risen. Their humanity, that so readily forgot the signs of God's reality and power in the past, reminds me of my own.

It seems we people quickly forget God's history with us and sink, like the exodus Israelites and these disciples did, into unbelief and panic.

I don't want to be like that. I want to have a faith that remembers.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to remember that You are the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). May the way I live my life reflect that I believe that. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotes are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

From youth to old age

Old telephone

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 71:12-24

TO CHEW ON: "O God, You have taught me from my youth;
And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
Now also when I am old and grayheaded
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come." Psalm 71:17,18

No matter what age you are, you can probably name many things that have changed noticeably over your lifetime. Take the telephone, for example. The first phone I remember was a big brown box attached to the wall. It looked like a face with two ringer bells as eyes, the horn-shaped microphone as nose, the crank and receiver on each side as ears. We rang up the telephone operator with our requested phone number, she contacted the other party with their signal ring (combination of short and long rings) and when they answered everyone else on that particular party line could listen in on the conversation.

Contrast that to the smart phones we use today. With them we can not only phone people (many of us hardly use that function at all) but send text messages, take photos and post them online, read books, play games, find information, get driving directions, etc.

Changes in technology aren't the only types of changes. Social and moral changes abound. For example, in my lifetime, the culture I'm a part of has gone from eschewing divorce and living together before marriage to divorce and common-law marriages now commonplace and, in the last few years, the recognition and celebration of gay marriage.

We find these changes in almost every department of life—except one: the spiritual. If we hold to the Bible and its teachings, not that much has changed. The God we worship is the God of the Old and New Testaments and we can still say with the psalmist: "O God, You have taught me from my youth…Now also, when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me…"

God's teaching curriculum still involves:

• Instruction in speech and what to say - Exodus 4:12; Matthew 10:19.

• Respect for and obedience of God instead of fearing the society around us - Isaiah 8:11-13.

• Discipline and faithfulness in coming to class - Isaiah 50:4.

• Learning the difference between the right and wrong; the holy and the profane - Ezekiel 44:23.

• Learning to love - 1 Thessalonians 4:9.

• Staying in tune with our teacher, the Holy Spirit - 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1 John 2:27.

In a world that is constantly changing, I find God's unchangeableness a great comfort and security. Living by what He teaches may put us out of step with the culture around us, but how much better to be in sync with the God who is a strong, powerful, and faithful Redeemer across the generations  (Psalm 71:18,22,23) than to build our lives on the shifting trends and changing standards of modern society!

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for being a God I can worship through a lifetime. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God doesn't age

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 71:1-11

TO CHEW ON: "Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails." Psalm 71:9


The longer we live, the more famous and powerful people we see come—and go. The movers and shakers of my youth, of even 20 years ago, are either dead or vastly changed.  International leaders like Maggie Thatcher and Ronald Reagan lose their minds to dementia. Beautiful people like Liz Taylor lose physical allure to aging and disease. Most sports figures are yesterday's news after age 40. If we see current photos of many of these once-prominent people, we hardly recognize their changed and wrinkled appearance. Age ravishes them like it does us all.

The writer of today's psalm, who appears to have been a prominent person himself, is feeling the vulnerabilities of aging. He is aware of his failing strength and of how he is now a sitting duck for his enemies—probably younger, more vigorous men who, he imagines, plot ways to take his life and lie in ambush poised to pounce on him.

In this time of old age trouble he reminds himself of the rock-solid God he trusts. He calls Him a "strong refuge," and a "rock and fortress" (Psalm 71:3,7).  He recalls how long God has been there for him—a hope and trust from his youth, upholding him even from birth (Psalm 71:5,6).

What a reassurance to all of us who are also in the process of aging. (That's everybody, of course, but after a certain birthday it encroaches ever more tangibly.) As the embrace of old age tightens, changing appearance, threatening health, sucking stamina, eroding influence, and stealing friends, even spouses, let's let this psalm remind us that God isn't going anywhere. He hasn't changed and won't change. The One who was our rock, refuge, fortress, hope, and trust in youth and middle age can and will be those things for us in old age as well.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your unchangeableness. Help me to recall this about You in the face of how I and my generation are wearing out. Amen.

MORE: God's unchangeableness

"We can define the unchangeableness of God as follows: 'God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.' This attribute of God is called God's immutability" - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theoology, p. 163 (quoting Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology).

Read more about the Immutability of God on Rebecca Writes (Theological Terms).

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Our promise-keeping God

Balaam blesses Israel - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Numbers 23:13-30

TO CHEW ON: "God is not a man that He should lie,
Nor a son of man that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" Numbers 23:19

Straight from God's mouth (via Balaam) comes this clear pronouncement of His unchangeableness (immutability). Wayne Grudem defines God's unchangeableness:

"God is unchaining in his being, perfections, purposes and promises. Yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations" - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 163.

Grudem identifies ways in which God doesn't change (while noting "… God is unchanging—not in every way that we might imagine, but only in ways the Scripture itself affirms" - p. 163).

God is unchanging:

• In His perfections—all the aspects of His character - James 1:17.

• In His purposes - Psalm 33:11.

"Since God has determined that he will assuredly bring something about, his purpose is unchanging and will be achieved - Isaiah 49:9-11" - Grudem, Op. Cit, p. 164.

• In His promises - Numbers 23:19 (today's focus verse).

God promised to bless Abraham and his descendants - Genesis 12:2-3. Those descendants were this mass of Israelites that Balak wanted Balaam to curse. God had promised them land they were now on the border of - Genesis 15:18-21. Balaam was to utter no curse on this nation God was determined to bless.

We still worship this unchanging God who keeps His promises. In a world where it sometimes seems like goodness and righteousness and holiness and justice are weak and defeated, what a reassurance God's unchangeableness is! There will be an ultimate victory over evil and the curse in all their manifestations—in nature, our personal lives, and in the life of the communities and nations of the world.

He has promised to establish His kingdom (where evil will have no part): Exodus 15:18 || Daniel 7:14 || Psalm 145:13 || Lamentations 5:19. His unchangeableness guarantees that nothing can keep that from happening.

Let's pray, with John, thanking God for this and so express our faith in this inevitability.

PRAYER: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned" - Revelation 11:17

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Soul anchor

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 6:13-7:14

TO CHEW ON: "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil." Hebrews 6:19

What hope is the writer talking about?

 Scanning back, we see that it is the hope of God's "immutability" (unchangeableness - Hebrews 6:17) and his "oath"—that promise He made to Abraham ("Surely I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you" - Hebrews 6:13 - quoting Genesis 22:17-18 where God goes on to say: "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed").

The grandeur of these two things sends the author on a hunt to express how valuable and important they are. He comes up with two word pictures.

1. A place of refuge -  "... fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us" (Hebrews 6:18). The writer's language would have brought to the Jewish mind the picture of a murderer fleeing to one of the cities of refuge (Joshua 20:1-7) or to the temple to lay hold of the horns of the altar (1 Kings 2:28) where they were assured safety from their accuser.

2. An anchor - "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul" - Hebrews 6:19.

In other words, their hope of salvation because of God's promise made to Abraham, together with the fact of His unchangeableness is like a city of refuge or the horns of the altar (a place of escape from certain retribution) and an anchor (the means of surviving life's storms).

To any of us fearful of losing salvation, the hope of Christ as our city of refuge or horns on the altar is a powerful picture. To those of us who feel like we'll certainly get dashed to pieces by life's storms of sickness, natural disaster, personal and family conflict, or whatever, this hope of salvation and an eternity with God is our anchor.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You that You don't change, and that the blessing of the promise made to Abraham is even now blessing me in that I have peace with You through Abraham's descendant Jesus, and can enjoy real life now and through eternity. Amen.

MORE: Soul Anchor by Michael Card

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Secure because He is faithful

Modern Jerusalem - photo by beggs

(on flickr, via everystockphoto.com - used with permission)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 125:1-5

TO CHEW ON: "As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever." Psalm 125:2

Psalm 125 is a "Song of Ascent"—one of the songs Jewish pilgrims sang on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the yearly feasts (Psalms 120-134).  In this one, the writer likens the travellers' security to the security of their destination, Zion (Jerusalem).

Eugene Peterson in his book about these psalms talks about Jerusalem's physical situation and draws a spiritual parallel:

"Jerusalem was set in a saucer of hills. It was the safest of cities because of the protective fortress these hills provided. Just so is the person of faith surrounded by the Lord" - Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, p. 85 (all page numbers below from the same book).

If we are so secure ("surrounded by the Lord") why do we often feel insecure? Peterson points out three possible sources of insecurity and how God anchors us even in them.

1. We listen to our feelings which change with circumstances. One day we're up, the next we're down.
To counter that, Peterson says, "... we learn to live not by our feelings about God but by the facts about God .... My security comes from who God is, not from how I feel" - p. 87.

2. We experience pain and suffering.
But these conditions are not permanent: "Nothing counter to God's justice has any eternity to it - 1 Corinthians 10:13" - p. 89.

3. We fear we will defect, give up, backslide.
About this insecurity Peterson says, "It is not possible to drift unconsciously from faith to perdition .... Defection requires a deliberate sustained and determined rejection.... We are secure not because we are sure of ourselves but because we trust that God is sure of us" - pp. 89,90.

Whatever life throws at us in the form of feelings, physical challenges, or self-doubts, we are secure because our security is not in ourselves but in our God who never changes!

PRAYER: Dear God, I am so glad that in You there is no "shadow of turning" and that You never change and that I can trust You to hang onto me even when I am discouraged, hurting or fearful. Amen.

MORE: Great is Thy Faithfulness sung by Chris Rice

The first-and-last God

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 44:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,

And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts

'I am the First and I am the Last;

Besides Me there is no God." - Isaiah 44:6

I find it interesting that in this verse that precedes a denouncement of idols, God identifies Himself in detail. It's as if He's saying - I am that God — the King of Israel God, the Redeemer God, the Lord of hosts God, the first-and-last God. Don't confuse Me with any other God.

Notice the "I am"s. Don't they hearken us back to Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-15)? And they place us fully in the conundrum of a God who is without beginning and end which flows through scripture

• Abraham called on the "Everlasting God" in Genesis 21:33.

• "The Lord shall reign forever and over," Moses sings in the song that celebrates God's destruction of the Egyptian army and making a way for the Israelites to cross the Red Sea - Exodus 15:18.

• The psalmist praises God for His everlasting kingdom in a dominion that endures throughout generations - Psalm 145:13.

• Paul lauds Him as "The King eternal, immortal, invisible to God who alone is wise, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen." - 1 Timothy 1:17.

• John sees Him as "the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End ... who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" - Revelation 1:18, and Revelation 11;17.

He is a God whose forever-life does not change. J. I. Packer describes Him:

"Created things have a beginning and an ending, but not so their Creator. The answer to the child's question, 'who made God?' is simply that God did not need to be made, for He was always there. He exists forever; and He is always the same. He does not grow older. His life does not wax or wane. He does not gain new powers, nor lose those that He once had. He does not mature or develop. He does not get stronger, or weaker, or wiser as time goes by. 'He cannot change for the better,' wrote A. W. Pink, 'for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot change for the worse.' The first and fundamental difference between the Creator and His creatures is that they are mutable and their nature admits of change, whereas God is immutable and can never cease to be what He is." − Knowing God, 1972 edition, p. 81

PRAYER: Dear God, Thank You for words like eternal, Alpha and Omega, everlasting, forever and ever that help me understand You, albeit in a still limited way. Help me to grasp the implications of Your eternity for my life. Amen.

MORE: Immortal Invisible, God Only Wise

This song written by W. Chalmers Smith expands on 1 Timothy 1:17. What grand lyrics, focusing our minds on the amazing attributes and qualities of God.




More on Immutability

- See the Immutability entry in Rebecca Writes "Theological Term of the Week."
- See her blog post "God's Immutability."

Earth tatters

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 51:1-23

TO CHEW ON: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens

And look on the earth beneath.

For the heavens will vanish away like smoke,

And the earth will grow old like a garment,

And those who dwell in it will die in like manner.

But My salvation will be forever

And My righteousness will not be abolished." Isaiah 51:6

Our society is obsessed with the state of Earth. Hardly a week goes but but we're not warned that if we don't drive less, pollute less, procreate less, use less water, fish less, and on and on, our planet is doomed. Such warnings may be warranted. For the Bible makes no secret of the fact that planet Earth will change and is temporary:

• "They will perish...yes they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak you will change them.." - Psalm 102:26 

• "The earth mourns and fades away..." - Isaiah 24:4.

• "The host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll..." - Isaiah 34:4.

• "Heaven and earth shall pass away..." - Matthew 24:35.

• "...the things which are seen are temporary..."- 2 Corinthians 4:18.

• "...the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will meet with fervent heat" - 2 Peter 3:10.

• "The world is passing away, and the lust of it" - 1 John 2:17.

In the light of all that, it is only wise to shift one's focus from the things of this transitory, mutable, doomed Earth to that which doesn't and won't change. We need to expend our energies on the things that last. What are those?

• God - Psalm 102:27; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 1:12.

• Jesus - Hebrews 13:8.

• Jesus' words - Matthew 24:35. 

• God's word - 1 Peter 1:25.

• God's dominion - Daniel 7:14.

• "The counsel of the Lord, the plans of His heart" - Psalm 33:11.

• God's salvation and righteousness - Isaiah 51:6 (our focus verse).

• Quality work built on the foundation of Jesus - 1 Corinthians 3:11-15.

("To build on the foundation a building of durable material [gold, silver, precious stones] is to teach sound doctrine and live a life of fidelity to the truth thus leading converts to spiritual maturity. To build with perishable material [wood, hay, stubble] is to provide inadequate or unsound teaching or to compromise the truth by demonstrating a lifestyle that contradicts or fails to model it" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1583.)

How easy it is to give a mental nod to the fact of Earth's impermanence while we continue to live as if it is a lasting reality.

May God grip my heart (yours too?) with His reality, so that "The things of earth will grow strangely dim / In the light of His glory and grace."

PRAYER: Dear God, I'm guilty of living as if life on Earth is the real thing. Help me to grasp, at a heart level, how brief and impermanent this life is, and to change my focus and give my energy to what is real and lasting. Amen.

MORE: "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" - Cynthia Clawson