God Never Breaks a Promise

“It won’t happen again, I promise.” How many times have you heard that line? How many times have you said it yourself? We may have the best of intentions, but conflicts come up, we overbook ourselves, or we get distracted and forget. When people break their promises to you, it hurts. And it might sound harsh, but sometimes it kind of feels like, well, they don’t love you. But God loves you, and because he does, he never breaks a promise.

God’s Love Motivates God’s Promises

The Psalms tell us God’s steadfast love gives us confidence in God’s promises. When God gives his word, he keeps his word. Listen to this promise God made, and kept, with David:

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
‘I will establish your offspring forever,
and build your throne for all generations.’”
~Psalm 89:3-4

Why would God make such an amazing promise? Simply put, God loved David.

“My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.”
~Psalm 89:28 (cf. Ps. 89:19-37; 111:9)

And God loves you, too. But it’s not enough for someone to love you. I may have the best intentions in the world in promising my daughter a pony and a princess castle, but I have no power to carry out my intentions. God, on the other hand, does have the power to act on his love toward you. And he will.

God’s Power Enables God’s Promises

The Psalms teach that God’s word was powerful enough to create everything around us. God’s word is powerful enough to thwart the plans of “the counsel of nations” (Ps. 33:4-5, 9-11). So when God speaks his word concerning us, we can have confidence that he will fulfill every last word.

Will it always be easy to trust God’s promises? No. Sometimes it will be agonizing. But those times when we wrestle through trials hurt so much because God is stretching us. He is growing our seedling faith to new levels of maturity. We experience, with awe, God keeping his promises to us no matter how dark the night, how deep the valley, how daunting the mountain.

So do not fear. You can rest in God’s steadfast love. You are held by his mighty hand. You can have confidence in every promise your heavenly Father makes to you. He will carry you through.

C.P.