Promises are broken
Governments break promises. People break promises. You break promises. I break promises. We watch people on TV breaking promises, we see people around us breaking promises. Our world does not think twice about breaking a promise if it is inconvenient to keep it.
- Sure I will do this for you – sorry I forgot.
- Sure we will visit – sorry something came up.
- Sure you can count on me – sorry I cannot be there for you.
- Sure I will support you – sorry I got busy.
One cannot count on the word or promise of another.
Nothing stands solid because we are all with fault and prone to letting people down. That is the reality of a broken world.
Able to Perform
But recently I came across this interesting phrase in a book by Andrew Murray where he was discussing Abraham: “Abraham accounted Him who had promised able to perform.” Never thought of it like that, Abraham considered God able to perform what He had promised. He actually believed that God who had called Him, would not let him down. He believed God when He said to Moses: “I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be perfect.” (Gen 17:1)
So Abraham believed God, but I notice that God trained Abraham to trust Him as the Almighty God, the Omnipotent One. God developed Abraham’s trust in Him over time. First God led him out of his homeland to a land he did not know, to live as a pilgrim among thousands of Canaanites, believing that God said: “This is my land.” Then in faith (trusting again) he waited 25 years, well into his old age, trusting against all hope for the son that God had promised him, so that he could be the father of many sons. Then once more, in faith, he trusted the Omnipotent One was able to raise the son he was about to sacrifice on Mount Moriah.
Abraham became the great example of faith to us, because he learnt to count on God to fulfill promises over time, and his conviction that God was able became stronger every time he believed the Almighty, Omnipotent One capable.
How did Abraham do it?
Abraham became focused on one fact: God, all-powerful, can do anything and therefore there was no reason within God’s character for God NOT to keep the promises He had made to Abraham.
Paul says a similar thing in 2 Tim 1:12 “because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.”
Paul was convinced and counted God as “able to perform,” because of what he believed.
It has led me to ask myself: “Do I count God as able to perform on the promises He has made to me?”
In other words, do I believe that God can keep His promises? Do I believe He can keep the promises I find in His Word, the ones whispered in my heart and the ones I dream about. Am I totally convinced about this?
By His very nature as the all-powerful, omnipotent God, nothing is impossible for Him(Luke 1:37).
Jesus himself said in Matt 19:26 “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
But today, I need to be honest and question: Do my actions, thoughts and words demonstrate that I count my God as able to keep His promises to me? What about you, are you convinced that God is able?
Father, I confess that I am not always convinced that You can do the impossible and that I often discount the promises of scripture because I don’t believe it can be done. Help the conviction that You are able, to become foundational to my faith, help me to believe that with You, anything is possible.
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