Using our Time Well
Time is a precious gift from God. Once gone, time is lost forever. We must never "fritter and waste the hours [God's hours] in an offhand way," as Pink Floyd put it.
How well are you using this precious resource?
A friend of mine gave me the following image of a day's worth of time. Imagine an empty jar - that is today's 24 hours. Next imagine a collection of stones, some small, some large: the large ones represent the most important tasks of the day, the small ones, the least important. As the day wears on the jar is being filled, for sure.
But by stones of what size?
If by sunset the jar has only been filled with small stones, well it is now just too late to put in the large ones!
So the wise proposal of my friend was this: fill the jar with big stones first. Then you can fit the small ones around the big ones.
One wise Big Daily Stone is a time of daily meditation on God's Word along with the prayer that naturally flows out of it.
In these blogs we turn from the psalms to consider the promises of God in Scripture. Not all the promises of God or we would be here forever!
And for today, a short introduction to God's promises.
God Makes Promises
A promise is a binding agreement to undertake some action in the future. It could be the near future - today, or it could be the distant future. (Many times the promises of God are not time-specific and are fulfilled at a time of his choosing). A promise may be one-sided or it may be two-sided. Marriage, for example, is a two-sided agreement between one man and one woman.
Another name for promise is "covenant." We have the Old Covenant in the Old Testament between God and his people, the nation of Israel. And we have the New Covenant made between God and his people who now come from every nation spread across the world.
One of the most noticable attributes of God from Scripture is that he makes promises. He cannot seem to help it; promise-making appears to be part of his divine nature.
Should we seek the source of this attribute, it surely must arise from his gracious, outgoing, blessing, loving nature - God loves to give to those who do not deserve it. And when he decides to give, he wraps up the gift with a promise.
Different kinds of Promises
God makes different kinds of promises.
Some of them are directed at individuals. He promised to Abraham and Sarah a child, he does not make that promise to every couple. He promised to that couple that they would be a blessing to the world, he does not promise you-will-bless-the-world to everyone.
He promised to king David that his throne would be established forever, he has not promised that to any of us.
Some of God's promises are global. He promised to Noah and his family - who were the whole population of the world - that He would never destroy the earth again with a flood. That is a promise God has made with all mankind for the duration of this earth.
Some of God's promises were made to Israel. He promised, for example, to bring them out of exile, and he did.
Many, if not most, of God's promises are directed to all of his people. And it is these we will consider in the days to come, God-helping us.
For just a start, here are four wonderful promises God has made to you and I who believe: God has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), he has promised to forgive our sins when we confess them (1 John 1:9), he has promised that if we draw near to him, he will draw near to us (James 4:8), and he has promised that one day "he will wipe every tear from our eyes" (Rev 21:4).
God's Promises never Fail
As we close this introduction to God's promises, I leave you with the fact turned-comfort, that God's promises to us will never fail and have never failed.
"The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the LORD's good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled." (Joshua 21:45).
Joshua is reflecting on a long life serving God. Through his leadership, God has enabled Israel to inherit the promised land and expel the wicked inhabitants (at least most of them). God promised this land to them, and he has fulfilled not only that promise but many others.
Joshua's God is our God, and his faithfulness to his people continues to this very day, hour and minute.
That is enough wonder for one day: God is gloriously faithful to all his promises!
Even when we are not faithful, he continues to be faithful. "If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself." (2 Timothy 2:13)
Summing it all Up
God's promises should lead us to praise. We can all look back at our own short earthly journey and testify to the radical faithfulness of God. When set against our unfaithfulness his impeccable trustworthiness stands out even more brightly!
God's promises inspire present confidence: the God who has watched over us in the past will do so today.
God's promises instill hope: the God who has and is faithful, shall be faithful in the future. We do not need to fear tomorrow!
God's promises provoke worship. Worship is different from praise. A God who can keep his promises in spite of all the changing scenes of life and time is an amazing God, worthy of our worship and adoration.
A SONG FOR THE DAY
There is one old hymn that comes to mind when I think of God's promise keeping.
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
there is no shadow of turning with thee;
thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
as thou hast been thou forever wilt be.
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see:
all I have needed thy hand hath provided--
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Thomas O Chisholm
Why don't you sing along HERE
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Our loving and faithful Father in heaven,
We come to you in the name of your Son, and thank you for your promise that those who come to you, you will never cast away. So we have confidence that you will hear our prayers.
We thank you for all your faithfulness to us over the years.
We thank you that even when we have so often been faithless, you have been faithful.
We worship you, our faithful, trustworthy God.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
Photo by Marcos Mayer on Unsplash
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