Living Fully And Patiently On God's Promises

"Today's Devotion" For March 21, 2006

Read: II Peter 3:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-25

LIVING FULLY AND PATIENTLY ON GOD'S PROMISES

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance." (Hebrews 11:13)

Living in a "15-second sound bite" world (that figure may be more like 6-seconds at the present time), we are a society of high expectations of immediate results and gratification of desires. The old axiom, "Patience is a virtue," has as much meaning today as ever as it appears that, as a culture and society, we don't like to wait for anything. I recently read about a "new" way of investing in stocks where, rather than riding out the ebb and flow of the market, quick buy and sell sequences, tripped by certain indicators, are used to make a quick profit and get out of the investment. Information comes at us from so many different directions, with such speed and force, and in incredibly overwhelming volumes that instant results and instant solutions are expected and considered the norm. People who can't keep up with the speed of information are left behind, especially in the corporate and political worlds. Commercials are quick and hard-hitting because otherwise, we're told, people won't get the message - they'll have tuned out after the first six seconds.

With such a mindset, can it be that God's Word and promises fall by the wayside because they don't take place immediately? From a purely human perspective, God is not to be trusted. After all, when Adam and Eve received His promise of redemption (Genesis 3:15) and Eve became the mother of Cain, she was convinced he was the Savior promised by God. She found out differently. Although it's not recorded by the Holy Spirit, it's probably not too great a stretch to assume that Eve was disappointed and questioned God's promise. God called Abraham from his ancestral home, to go to a far away place that God would show him, and promised that Abraham's descendants would be as many as the sand on the seashore or the stars in the heavens (cf. Genesis 12). Yet Abraham didn't have an heir until he was almost 100 years old. It wouldn't be a stretch at all to believe that God's promise was bogus.

Yet by faith, Eve and Abraham saw their salvation, not in their present, but in God's good time. The writer to the Hebrews devotes a large portion of the letter to the whole idea of believing God's promises, with chapter 11 being the most significant chapter on the history of faith in God's promises in the whole of Scripture. While the world around us is looking for instant results, instant gratification, and instant "everything," we stand on God promises by faith and trust that His Will and purpose will be done in the "right time" according to His promises to us. By God's grace we have the example of those faithful of long ago who didn't see God's promise of the Messiah fulfilled, but believed His promises and trusted in His faithfulness. They knew God would "make good" on His promises and they lived their lives accordingly. And that's what God is inviting us to do in this time in history also.

We are called by faith to living fully on God's promises. By faith we believe that God became flesh and lived among us in the person of Jesus Christ. By faith we believe that Jesus came according to God's promises to Adam and Eve, and to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Moses and to all who believed. By faith we believe that Jesus came "in the fullness of time" - a time determined to be right according to God's will and purpose, not Man's. By faith we believe that, as Jesus' has promised, He is with us always until the end of the world (Matthew 28:20). By faith we believe that, according to Jesus' promise, He will return on the Last Day to take us all to Himself in the Resurrection.

The challenge for us in all this "by faith" stuff is that God's timeframe for the accomplishment of His promises doesn't fit with ours. We want what we want, now, today, at this very minute, especially when life throws us not just a few curves and foul balls (hey! it's almost time for opening day!:>). God knows the challenges to our faith and trust in His promises and fills us with His Word and Spirit so that we might not be overwhelmed by the urge for immediate gratification and thus lose sight of His promises at the right time. By His Word and Spirit, our gracious Father in heaven fills us with His love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness so that we might face the temptations to doubt His promises in Jesus with courage and resolve, living fully on God's promises and waiting patiently for Jesus' return. Doing so, God's peace reigns in our hearts and lives and the rush and hubbub of the world can't take that away.

Prayer: Father, forgive me for being so impatient with You, especially since Your are infintely patient with me. When I sin, You always lift me up to You once again through the forgiveness that is mine in Christ Jesus. When I stumble on Your promises You pick me up, reminding me that my time isn't Your time and that I need to be patient for You always keep Your promises. Father, I pray that You would so fill me with Your Word and Spirit that I might learn to be patient and wait for You. Help me to live fully dependent on Your promises which fill me and guide me in my service to others in Jesus' name. Give me the patience to be gracious and loving to others, even when they seek to harm me, knowing that as I patiently share Your love and forgiveness with them, according to Your promises, You are continuing to keep Your promises to me. Fill me with the sure and certain hope of faith in Your promises that I may never be disappointed in You but always look to You for all good things. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
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--Pastor Boeck

Copyright © 2006 Rev. Richard J. Boeck, Jr. All rights reserved.