Promises, Promises And Why God Makes Them

Imagine God promises you something, anything. Let's say... hair. He promises you hair because  you are going bald and you’ve refused to eat for two days because of this. So he says, “Behold, my balding child!” In His earth-quaking voice, “I am going to give you hair, and fill up those bald spots! In fact, I’m going to give you a full head of hair; hair that’ll make Jon Snow weep!” 

What do you think will happen?

Well, there’s a likelihood that those adorable tufts of hair may not sprout instantaneously. 

In my experience, when God gives me a promise, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING goes way south. It looks like the exact opposite of what He said, no sign of His promise. Nothing. It’s a dry, dry desert.

I believe He gives us promises because He knows we’ll need it down the line. We’ll need it to encourage ourselves, to stand firm in the capability of His power, and anticipate the splendor of His creative work.

If He tells you He’ll supply all your needs, at some point, you may not feel supplied at all. If He promises you hair, you may become Varys before you become Better-than-Jon Snow(enough with the GOT references, Ike). Bottom line, you may become completely bald before you get a chance to toss those locks in the wind.

At that point of complete baldness, you may not have what you want, but you have something pulsating with an inherent potential of God’s power— a promise! He sees the future and He knows things are going to go very South. He expects us to grab that promise, stare at it, speak it, shout it, write it, mutter it, imbibe it, own that promise until we are breathing and living in its reality.

God once gave me a promise and it did not look like it for a long time. Just like David or Abraham or Joseph, each of these guys waited at least 10 years before the promise was realized. Abraham waited until he was 99! David waited, running around in the mountains and the desert for years, trying to escape Saul, even AFTER David had been anointed king by Samuel; Joseph was sold as a slave, and he went to jail before all those stars bowed to him.

These 3 men had a promise each. There is a promise. Then there’s the wait or the trail. You must hold on. You must. Otherwise, what are you gonna do?

Why should you hold on? Because when the trial is over and you have won... there will be Isaac. There will be no Saul, and your greatness will exceed those before and after you, as was with David; never lost a battle, never lost his city, arguably the most respected king in history. When you wait out the promise, the stars will surely bow and so will the moon and the sun.  

This is what happens to those who wait for my God.