God’s Promises – Our Way

As a teenager, I knew God's call on my life… in general. I knew that I was called to missions, I knew that I had a heart for Africa, I knew that I wanted to travel the US in a semi, and I knew that I wanted to tell kids about Jesus. In my mind, I had it all figured out – mostly. I would travel cross-country full-time in that semi with a trailer modified to be a fold-out stage with puppets and my piano, and have kids rallies, telling them about Jesus. I wasn't quite sure how Africa would fit into it, so I thought maybe that was the alternative. I'd met ladies that were "lifers" in Africa as missionaries, so figured it would either be after my cross-country travels, or instead of my cross-country travels. But let me tell you, I loved to dream about it all. I even mapped out how I would design the trailer I would use, had assigned my siblings parts of the ministry team, and even started working on the puppet scripts I would use.

Funny thing is, God apparently had a different idea. I mean, imagine that!

Though God could still do anything he wants in my life, I can already use hindsight to see the humorous twists that GOD used to accomplish many of these same things – just not using my carefully planned methods.

I've been to Africa now – I spent a month there, with Child Evangelism Fellowship, teaching thousands of kids about Jesus and how they can spend eternity with him.

I'm a missionary, and have been for 13 years (officially – unofficially, it's more like 16 years).

I get to tell kids about Jesus all the time – and train others to do it.

Oh, and I HAVE been cross-county in a semi – that happened when I was on sabbatical, and got to go with my husband – who happened to drive truck! I still tease him that I just married him for the truck that he drove. Now that he doesn't drive truck anymore, I'm stuck with him. :-)

Now let's throw in a bonus, I get to teach – children, teens, and adults. My poor younger brothers were the brunt of my passion to teach, evident from a young age. I still remember at the age of 6 or 7 writing out math sheets for Seth to do as we played school!

When God makes a promise, or places a call on our lives, all we really HAVE is our imagination to try to figure out how God might fulfill it. And we can come up with some pretty cool ideas for how God should/could keep his promise. But it can't compare to GOD'S imagination, and how HE orchestrates our lives.

Abraham got a front-row seat to this. Remember how God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations? God made that promise first when he was a young fighting man. But Abram and Sarai were childless, and remained so for many years.

My brief count shows at least FOUR times that God made the promise to give him abundant offspring. On the one hand, God must have seen that Abraham needed the reminder. On the other hand, we're told that Abraham believed God. So it wasn't a matter of Abraham not believing God… it was just that Abraham seemed to have his own ideas of HOW God would keep that promise.

At one point, Abraham suggested that the only possible offspring he had was a slave of his, that did great at running things for him. Another time, Sarah talked him into taking her servant, Hagar, as his wife, so he could have descendants that way. It wasn't until Hagar's son Ishmael was 13 years old that Abraham finally realized that God intended to fulfill His promise through a child that Sarah would bear. Being in her late 80's, Sarah did NOT present a great prospect for motherhood. Though Abraham bowed before the Lord at that time, he also laughed at the impossibility.

When Sarah was 90, SHE laughed when the LORD told her she would bear a child within a year. She was incredulous that such a thing could happen. She probably seriously doubted that this even WAS the LORD making such a promise.

Do we ever do that? God makes a promise, and we say "yeah, right, God!" Or maybe we doubt that God even made that promise?

We are limited by our human imaginations, and so we try to explain away how God should keep his promise. When He says He will supply all our needs according to his riches in glory, and we find ourselves without a job, how do we respond? Do we rush out and get the first job that crosses our path, even if it's not His best? Or on the other extreme, do we sit there and wait for God to start dropping money in our lap. Either way, we're presuming that God will keep his promise to provide in the way that WE want him to provide.

Sometimes we get in a hurry, thinking God will answer in our timing: Do you realize Abraham and Sarah had to wait about 25 years for his promise to be fulfilled to have even one child of the many offspring God had promised?

Especially during trials, we wonder how God is keeping his promises, since life doesn't match up to how we imagined life SHOULD be if he's keeping his promise.

Musical artist, Laura Story, came out with a song in 2011 called "Blessings". It talks about this concept. Listen to the music video as you read the following lyrics.

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?

What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?

And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near?

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can't satisfy?

And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?


What a beautiful way of describing that dichotomy.

I'm encouraged that Abraham DID seem to learn that lesson. By the time God asked him to sacrifice Isaac on the altar, Abraham didn't hesitate to obey, even though this son was the way he THOUGHT God was keeping his promise, and there didn't seem to be any other options that his imagination could provide.

Can WE have that faith? Will you choose to trust God to keep his promises even when it doesn't match up to YOUR imaginations?