My daughter still believes in the sanctity of the pinky-swear, in which we lock our fingers in solemn promise. I don’t blame her: Most promises need some kind of reinforcement. Promises are not very good currency these days. In nearly every area of life, promises, it seems, really were made to be broken. In business, politics, marriage, and the innocence of childhood, the promises we hear (and the promises we speak) are not worth the paper they’re written on. In modern life, we have trained ourselves to discount promises as nothing more that echoes in the wind. The one great exception is when it comes to God’s promises.
That’s why the passage below is so arresting. Apparently there is Someone capable of keeping promises, and more than that, these promises are capable of lifting us into eternity. See if you can catch what Peter says about God’s promises, and what they can do:
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:3-4)
God’s Promises Help Us Share His Divine Nature
Did you take note of that? I don’t even know what the phrase means, “participate in the divine nature,” but whatever it means, it’s got to be good! Note, too, the strange connection: God makes promises to us, and his promises lift us up to participate in his nature.
Have you ever taken a personal inventory of God’s promises? My personal inventory includes two kinds of promises from God: those I find in the Scripture and those he has spoken to me directly. Let’s look at both.
From Genesis to Revelation, the Scripture is filled with promise. The Creator stakes his relationships and reputation on his promises. The Bible teaches that through his promises nature is protected, families pack up and move, nations are birthed. All because of God’s promises. Throughout the Scripture, our Lord promises his presence, sends his Spirit, and etches each of our names forever in the white stone of eternity. Through his promises, each child of God is born into a family older than any nobility, wealthier than a Bezos or a Buffett.
God’s promises are written plain for us all in the Scripture, so why should we be ignorant of our heritage? No list written here can do justice to the bounty of his promises: his goodness and mercy endures forever; that same mercy triumphs over judgment; it’s his good pleasure to give us the Kingdom; he will never leave us or forsake us. Seriously, how could any follower of Jesus get through life without such treasures? And this list is the merest start.
“But these are at-large Bible promises,” you protest. “They are generalizations, abstractions meant to describe the Almighty, little more than church words spoken into the air as comfort from a distant God.”
The second aspect of God’s promises is that his words are not confined to the inspired Scripture; he speaks to you and me, personally. What has saved me from ignoring all of God’s promises are the times his Spirit has visited me up close and whispered promises so intimate and specific they could only be meant for me.
What personal promises have you received from God? The same One who created you, body-and-soul in the secret place of your mother’s womb, has spoken promises to you—just to you. Have you heard them? It’s vital that each one of us hears his voice and discover his promises to us.
Finally, the reason they are promises (and not prophesies) is because a promise is an invitation. He invites us into deeper trust and relationship with each promise. What we hear and how we respond shape our spiritual formation. He uses his promises to transform us into his likeness.
I’m finished, but before you go, consider:
- Can I hear God’s promises?
- Will I remember God’s promises?
- How can I live into God’s promises?
This article on God’s promises originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
