June 16, 2015

¹⁰ And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.  Joshua 3:10 ESV

"Without fail."  When God gives His word that X, Y, or Z will happen "without fail", consider it a done deal.  It's a lock, a sure thing, open and shut.  God cannot lie.  His nature will not allow Him to promise then not follow through.

¹⁹ God is not man, that he should lie,
    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?  Numbers 23:19 ESV

² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began Titus 1:2 ESV 

¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie,  Hebrews 6:18 ESV

So why then when we know that we know that we know God has made a promise to us individually or collectively do we doubt?  Three reasons spring to mind.

First is that we may not be 100% sure God has spoken.  We think the word if from God, but too often in the past we have fooled ourselves into interpreting our wants and desires as a word from God.  Our past self-deception causes to doubt the real deal when it presents itself.

A second reason is our lack of faith.  Our mouths say we have 100% faith in God, but when the night gets long and dark and those doubts start to roll in, we question God's love and ability to follow through.  We view the situation as beyond God's ability.  He said He would (fill in the blank), but He has not revealed the how.  Since I don't see how, perhaps it won't/can't happen. 
⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  Isaiah 55:8 ESV

Finally, we get impatient with God's timeline and the lack of revelation of every step in the resolution of the problem.  God spoke last week, but I am still sick.  Three months ago, God assured me my marriage would improve, but I still cry myself to sleep several nights a week.  Last year God revealed to me I would find a job, but I am still unemployed.  
⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, 2 Peter 3:8 ESV

We are all too often guilty of judging God by our human standards and weaknesses.  Since we cannot solve the problem, surely God cannot.  Since we have broken promises in the past, maybe God won't follow through either.  We allow our immediate, microwave, fiber-optic world to expect on-demand results from God.  God is not human.  We must not allow our past experiences with flawed people to frame our perception of Him.  His promises true.  His power unlimited.  His timing prefect.