The Promises of God
There is probably not a thinking person on earth who has not wondered at one time or another why God does not behave differently from what he does or has done. A friend of mine fell from a horse at the age of thirteen and permanently disabled him. He developed tuberculosis of the bone and lost the use of his feet and legs. He had to lie in bed for more than thirty years. Did his family and friends ever wonder why God allowed this thirteen-year-old boy to suffer so much during his life? Did they blame God for his injury? Was this young man like the man born blind in John 9? Was he allowed to suffer so intensely “that the works of God might be manifest in him” (John 9:3)?
C.S. Lewis, the
famous English author and apologist, married late in life--in his sixties, I
believe. He married Joy Davidman, an
American poet with two small children.
Joy was seriously ill when Lewis married her and died two years
later. C.S. Lewis wrote a remarkable
little book, A Grief Observed (New York: Bantam Books, 1963), in which
he asked, “Meanwhile, where is God?” Lewis says that during good times we sense
little or no need for God. When we are
happy we may turn to him in gratitude and praise, but we may forget to do
so. “But go to Him when you need is
desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door is slammed in your face, and a sound
of bolting and double bolting on the inside.
After that, silence” (p. 4). Anne
Freemantle says concerning C.S. Lewis’s book, “The author has done something I
had believed impossible--assuaged his grief by conveying it” (inside
cover). One of the sweetest, kindest,
and gentlest and most trusting persons I have been privileged know was Nadine
Claiborne, one of my younger sisters. At
the age of three, in 1933, she contracted polio. Over the next seventeen years she suffered
more than most of us can imagine. One
winter she had pneumonia two times, double pneumonia one time, measles and
mumps. On one occasion, she spent
thirteen months in
What do we
expect God to do when suffering, heartaches and death come into our lives? Are we expecting miracles to heal our sick
mothers, children and fellow Christians?
Has God promised to heal all our sicknesses and disappointments? If he miraculously healed all our diseases,
how would we ever escape this world? The
scriptures teach, “And it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the
judgment” (Heb.
There are a number of biblical passages where the word “promise” is used, but I shall dwell primarily on one passage from Peter’s second epistle. “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our Lord, according as his divine power has given unto us all things which pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who has called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust” (2 Pet. 1:2-4). Did you notice that Peter referred to God’s promises as “exceedingly great and precious promises?”
There are some
questions I would like to ask about God’s promises. Has God ever broken one of his promises to
man? The apostle Peter insisted that
“the Lord is not slack concerning his promises; but is longsuffering toward us,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2
Pet. 3:9). There are certainly times
when the fulfillment of God’s promises does not fit within our time frame, but
God has never failed to abide by his word--unless the fulfillment of a promised
was conditional. If a promise is conditioned
on human actions--and God’s promises are often dependant on human actions--then
the promise may never be fulfilled. When
God delays the fulfillment of a promise, it is often because of his
“longsuffering.” God does not delay
time-bound promises, but he may delay other promises to give men more
opportunities for obeying his will and being blessed because of their
faithfulness. Paul affirmed: “For all
the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by
us” (2 Cor.
What are some of
these exceedingly great and precious promises?”
The Bible promises those who obey the gospel complete forgiveness of
sins. In the Great Commission according
to Mark, Jesus said, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature. He who believes and is
baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned”
(Mk.
God’s children
under the new covenant are promised freedom in Christ--freedom from sin,
freedom from worry, freedom from the fear of death and freedom from the law of
Moses. Please listen carefully to some
of the passages which discuss the freedom we enjoy in Christ. “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed
on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; and you
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, we are Abraham’s seed, and
were never in bondage to any man: how do you say, You shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say
unto you Whosoever commits sin is the
As you can
discern from our reading of these biblical passages, bondage or slavery is not
just physical; it is more often moral and spiritual. Jews and Gentiles were both bond
The gospel
guarantees Christians freedom from worry, although many of us because of
unbelief have failed to enjoy the fullness of this freedom. The apostle Paul gave the church at
Christians are
promised everlasting life at the end of their pilgrimage. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life” (Rom.
God has also
promised to provide for the physical needs of his children. I shall not take the time today to read all
of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, but I encourage you to read Matthew
6:24-33. Let me choose a few appropriate
verses from this passage to read to you at this time. “Do not worry about your life, what you shall
eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body than
raiment? …Therefore do not worry,
saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? …But
seek ye first the
Another of God’s gracious promises pertains to the comfort he provides for his children. Perhaps no Old Testament passage says it so well as Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely good and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
But what if we are not comforted and supported in our periods of distress and tribulation? What are the reasons we do not feel comforted? Why do we sometimes feel as if God does not care, or perhaps, that he does not exist? Could any of it be our own misunderstanding? Could some sin be separating us from God or from the comfort we expect? Could our emotions prevent our seeing the goodness and mercy of our loving heavenly Father?
Is it possible some Christians--even faithful, dedicated Christians--could be disappointed with what they perceive as a lack of concern on God’s part? There is simply no question of some people’s disappointment with God. Philip Yancey, an outstanding American writer, expresses the disappointment with God which some feel in two very helpful books: Where Is God When It Hurts? and Disappointed with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988). In answer to Yancey’s question, “Where is God when it hurts?” it needs to be said that he is in the same place he was when his Son died for our sins on the cross.
Tragically, we have often been fed the wrong information about God. Does God want us to be “happy, healthy and prosperous” all the time, as many television evangelists strongly insist? If we are not happy, healthy, and prosperous, does this indicate a lack of faith and faithfulness? Philip Yancy tells of a young theologian who wrote a commentary on the book of Job. When he had finished the book, he asked Philip Yancy to read and then give him feedback on the book. After completing his commentary on Job, the author decided he did not believe the message of the book. He also decided he did not believe any of the Bible or even in the existence of God. According to Yancey, “He could not understand why a loving Father would let him suffer such disappointment. No earthly father would treat his child like that” (p. 23).
Human beings
have a number of options in dealing with God’s relationship to pain and
death. He can curse God and die. Do you remember what Job’s wife said to Job
after many tragedies had struck him: “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). Job responded: “You speak as one of the
foolish women. Shall we receive good at
the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?
In all of this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job
We can conclude that God is powerless to make any changes in our outward circumstances. Rabbi Harold Kushner’s bestselling book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People (New York: Avon Books, 1981), recounts the tragedy of losing a son to progeria--a disease which causes excessive aging in children. As the Rabbi thought about his son’s suffering and death, he concluded that God is a God of justice but not of power (p. 208). My friends, Rabbi Kushner does not believe in the God of the Bible. If God does not have all power, how can we be sure we will be saved in the day of judgment? A God who is not all-powerful is of no particular value to human beings.
We can strive to evade the issue of pain and suffering by looking to the future. There is a sense in which we not only can, but should, look to the future. The scriptures encourage our thinking of heaven even when we walk on earth and have to endure disappointments and heartaches. But we also have to deal with them here and now. We must be concerned about the suffering this life brings. Our hope in the face of such distress is knowing that God cares, that he will make it all work for our good and for his glory.
There are some religious teachers and philosophers who deny the reality of suffering and pain. But that is an incredible approach to life. There is no question about men’s and women’s hurting in this life. We can see it all about us in all walks of life. It does no good--and can actually do much harm--to deny the existence of pain and suffering. We must recognize, however, that God does not wish it to be so, but the entrance of sin brought pain and death and disappointment into the world. For those who love God and his Son, it will work out, but we do not approach life realistically and scripturally when we seek to deny that any problems exist.
How do we resolve the problems relating to life--its heartaches, sorrows and disappointments? As I have just suggested, we must be realistic about the nature of sin and its influence in the world. We should read carefully the lives of the great saints of the ages--Elijah, Moses, David, Daniel, Joseph, the apostle Paul, and especially the life of Christ. We must also pray to God and ask him to help us to understand his will for our lives. May God help us to believe God’s promises and to live by his inspired word.
Winford Claiborne