Devotional: Romans 4:20, 22-25
20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 23 And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded 24 for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God. (NLT)
Have you ever made a promise you couldn’t or didn’t keep? Yeah, I have too. We try our best to keep our promises, but we’re human. We’re naturally flawed, and were never meant to be perfect.
But God is.
One of the most perfect things about God is his promises. We can trust in God that when he promises something, it is as good as done. Now coming to discern what is God’s promise and what is our own wish or imagination is not as easy. We can trust the promises God gives us in the Bible because they’ve been passed down for thousands of years. He promised Abraham that he would be the father of nations even though he and Sarah were too old to have children. He promised the Israelites that they would get out of Egypt. He promised to send us a saviour, and he has done that in Jesus.
All we have to do on our part to live God’s best for our lives after we’ve accepted Jesus, is to love God and love everyone else. Not too hard, right? We’ll circle back to that another day.
I was thinking about trying to hear God’s voice this morning. In our accountability group the other women talk about clearly hearing God’s voice for direction in their lives, sometimes frequently. I know for sure I’ve heard it once when I got really off track from where I was supposed to be: “This is not the life I had planned for you.” Loud and clear — that got me back on track. It took time, but I got there.
But what about now that I am back on track?
My friends talked about clearly hearing his voice on different things, and I felt like I was doing something wrong. Maybe listening to God is like trying to tune in a radio station on an old dial-up radio, where you have to keep turning the dial to get the station clearly, and the weather or where someone sits in the room can cause static.
So I thought I’d try to quietly listen for his voice. You know what all I could hear was? My own voice saying “okay, now I’m going to be quiet and listen for what God wants me to do. I can do this, I can be quiet even in my own head. Why am I not quiet? Why is my voice still talking? ARGH! SHHH!! Be quiet — I’m supposed to be listening now!!”
So for many of us it may not be as easy to hear God’s promises as it is for others. Maybe its a matter of how he speaks to us being different than the way he speaks to others. Often I’ve found guidance from dreams, one of the few times my inner monologue is usually silent, as it’s watching the dream-movie play out. Other times guidance has come through signs that I’m on the right (or wrong) track.
For example, after my friend passed away, I noticed hawks more often, and I always felt that was her saying “hi” and letting me know that things would be okay. I’ve seen them very frequently recently, once when I got us moderately lost at a local conservation area and another time when I was coming home from the third of three appointments on a very full day. It was a reminder to me that God is with me, his promises are good, and all will be well, even if I’m not always sure exactly what those specific promises will be.
God sent Jesus so that no matter what, we would have the promise that he will always be with us, living inside our hearts, guiding us, and prospering us — if not always in the way we expect or want.
We may not get a promotion we’re seeking because there is something better for us just around the corner.
We may not end up with that person we’ve been admiring, and then we meet the love of our life.
We may not become proficient at one art form, because we’re really meant for another.
God is always looking to do what is best for us, and that is a promise you can truly trust in.
Prayer: Thank you, Heavenly Father, for all the blessings that you’ve given us and for guiding us to grow into the people you created us to be — the best versions of ourselves. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!