Our vows, when we got married, went along the lines of “I promise to love you in good or bad, in sickness and in health…”, well you know those lines. At 18 years old, those were some confident promises for someone who had no idea what lied ahead, no idea where life would take us, good or bad. The good was there from the beginning. The bad, well that came along eventually. So did the sickness instead of health. Not in any of those times did I not believe the promises we had spoken those years before. I always believed in the promise to love no matter what.

I say all this to say that believing in our spouses promises when we wed is usually an easy thing. We can see them, see the looks in their eyes and the smiles on their faces. It’s something tangible that we can reach out and touch. It’s real. We can’t say that about too much anymore, can we? But there is still one thing we CAN say that about and that is the promises of our God!

His Word are full of so many promises. So many times in His Word He promises to love us through sickness and health, through the good and the bad (and the ugly). And believe you me, I know He has seen us at our very worst! Does that mean we always are confident of these promises? I can’t say that I am. I am guilty of getting on that pity party and forgetting that His Word says “I love you anyways”.

Not only does His Word show us His promises of how much He loves us, it also show us His promises on how much He is here for us, in the good or the bad. Isaiah 43:1-3 holds one of those promises. “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob. And He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.’”

Wow! What an awesome promise from our Lord!! All we have to do is believe in that promise. Just as Abraham believed in the promise that God made to him in Genesis 15:5, when He told Abraham his descendants would be as many as the stars. How do I know how confident Abraham was of this promise? Well flip a few pages over and look at Genesis 22. God had instructed Abraham to take Isaac, his only son, up onto a mountain and offer him as a sacrifice to God. Wait a minute!?! Isaac was his only son! God had promised him descendants as many as the stars! What was going on?!

But Abraham didn’t question or doubt. In verse 5 of Gen 22, Abraham told those who came with him, ‘Stay here, and we will come back to you‘. Not I. We! Abraham knew somehow, someway, God would keep that promise and Isaac would be saved.

Do we have the kind of faith in the promises of God that Abraham had? Do we know without a shadow of a doubt, even when things look bad, that God is in it and in control?

I can’t say that I would jump on offering up my only son. But then again, isn’t that what we do every single day? We offer our children, our spouses, our family and friends up to God, turning them over to Him, believing in His promises of healing and of salvation.

Something to think about, I guess. 🙂

~ “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness…’” 2 Corinthians 12:9 ~