Promises of God

No Such Thing as Bad Ice Cream!

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I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. Psalm 119:16 NKJV

“There’s no such thing as bad ice cream!” is our friend George’s favorite saying (and he stays skinny!). On any given day, George will take chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, or peach, whether in a cone or a cup, and is ready to sit down and take a moment to enjoy it. I think it would be safe to say that George delights in ice cream.

When the writer of today’s verse tells us that he delights in God’s word, he reminds me of George. He is saying, that, just like the flavors of ice cream, no matter the situation handed to us this morning, we can choose to continue delighting in the promises of God. Just as with George’s ice cream, there is no such thing as a bad promise of God. Every promise is perfect, pure, eternal, and though sometimes hard to swallow; always sweet! What special promises has God given you? Do you have a favorite? So, as you head out today, try to remember that there’s no such thing as bad ice cream, and no such thing as a bad promise of God!

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 
2 Corinthians 1:20
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Don’t Just Settle! – Part 1

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Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. Genesis 11:31 ESV

I used to think that God called Abram to go to the land of Canaan, as if it were just a lightning bolt out of the blue. It seemed that when God said, “Go to a place I will show you.”, it was if it were a place totally unknown and unfamiliar to Abram. But in today’s reading, we discover that actually Abram’s father, Terah, had set out from Ur to go to Canaan years before: but he never finished the journey. Terah did leave behind his home country. He left behind the land of idolatry, his familiar surroundings and friends, but when he got to the town of Haran, Terah decided to settle. Of course, God doesn’t give us all the particulars, of Terah’s motives, but whatever they were, they caused him to give up on his goal.

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Now Terah started in the right direction but never made it all the way, because he settled. But the good news for us today, is that even though Terah settled for less, God didn’t He hadn’t changed His mind, and unlike any of us, God has all the time in the universe to bring His plans to pass. So, God waited. He waited a generation as Terah grew old and died in the safe little village of Haran. They must have lived there for many years during that waiting time, because by the time chapter twelve starts, Abram is already seventy-five years old. But God’s call never grows old, He never gives up and God never settles for less. Instead, God came and called again, but this time HIs call was to Abram:

“And the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you – And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot, his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of CANAAN...” 
Genesis 12 1; 5a ESV

Steadfast Love and the Prodigal Son

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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness! Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

  • God’s love never ceases: It has never changed in the past and will never change in the future. God doesn’t love us more when we succeed or do a good deed, and He doesn’t love us less when we fail, or fall into sin. We come home to God by believing He is loving and willing to accept us. God’s love is like the father’s love in the parable of the prodigal son. Just like that Father, God is still willing to accept us and include us into His family, when we leave our own way of doing things and come home to him.
  • God’s mercies never come to an end: When God forgives us, He adopts us into His family. He isn’t just being kind to us on a one-time basis. He will not wake up tomorrow and say, “Okay that’s it. The visit is over. Pack your bags and move out!” When God receives us into His family He says, “This my son, was dead, but now he is alive!” You see, even when the prodigal was spiritually dead to his father, he was still considered a son. Now he has come home, that dead relationship became a living one. Our living relationship to God begins by our believing in our Father’s mercy because of the cross of Jesus. The blood of Jesus has paid the penalty of our sins forever and we don’t have to be afraid that God will ever change His mind.
  • Great is Your Faithfulness: We learn to be faithful to others, by seeing how faithful God has been to us. The prodigal came home thinking that he was going to work for his dad and live in the servant’s quarters. But his father had a different plan. He was given a welcome home party and then invited to come live back home. In that same way, we don’t work for God all week while living in the servant’s quarters and then go visit our dad once a week at His place on Sunday. Just like the father in the parable, God’s plan is for us to wake up every morning in His house, come down to breakfast at His table and spend our day, every day with Him! What an amazing, loving and faithful God we serve!