My Promise Keeper
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had
said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.
Genesis 21:1 (NIV)
I
promise!
We have all made promises to other people,
and we
have all had promises made to us. We have also all
suffered the
disappointment that comes when a promise
made to us
is broken. Keeping a promise is a reflection of
our character.
That is why we teach our children, “Do not
make a
promise you cannot keep.”
Sarah
was
the beautiful, loyal, and strong wife of the
patriarch Abraham,
but she had one struggle: she was
barren. In
that culture, at that time, not only was being
barren personally
heartbreaking for a woman,, but also
often brought
about cultural criticism as well.
When
Sarah
heard the promise of God, her heart did not
leap for
joy; rather, she laughed. In fact, if her laugh itself
could have
been translated, the translation might have
been heard
as, “You must be kidding me! I am eighty-nine
years old,
and my husband is ninety-nine years old! There
is no
way we are having a child this late in our lives!”
How
did
God respond to this laugh of disbelief? He
did so
with a loving rebuke and a reaffirmation of His
promise. He
said, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At
the appointed
time I will return to you, according to the
time of
life, and Sarah shall have a son” (Genesis 18:14).
When
we read
about the promises of God, do we
believe He
can and will do all that He has said? Do not let
doubt creep
into our heart,
diminish our faith,
and rob
us of
the blessings God has in store. If we
are
tempted
to doubt
the promises of God, remember, nothing is too
difficult for
God. When God makes a promise, He will
deliver on
that promise. For Him to do anything else
would be
contrary to His nature and character. God never
makes a
promise He cannot keep. The birth of Abraham
and Sarah’s
son, Isaac, is one perfect proof that God is the
Promise Keeper.
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