Your Promises - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) July 8, 2022

Have you ever been in a dire situation and prayed for God's help? Did you make an oath to do something in exchange for that assistance? Maybe you promised to quit smoking? Or, did you swear you'd never fornicate again? Was it a pledge to stop gossiping with that coworker who can't keep their mouth shut and now you're worried everyone will know how you really feel?

How many promises have you made to God? How many of them have you kept?

If you're like me, you likely don't remember. But, what if I told you God takes our promises very seriously? The ones we make to Him and those we make to others. And when we break them, He takes that seriously too. What if I told you He doesn't care if the promise you made was made under duress or made based on your being deceived?

That was exactly the case when He proclaimed judgment upon Jerusalem in Ezekiel 17. At that time, only the city of Jerusalem remained standing, the rest of the Israelites had been captured by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Jerusalem's king was forced to swear allegiance to Babylon with the threat of death hanging over his head, and he reneged on his promise. what was God's take? He said, For the king of Israel disregarded his treaty and broke it after swearing to obey; therefore, he will not escape (Ezekiel 17:18). You're probably thinking, woah, that can't be right! But wait...there's more (said in my best infomercial voice). Look at Psalm 15:4 - In his eyes an evil person is despised, But he honors those who fear the LORD [and obediently worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder]. He keeps his word even to his own disadvantage and does not change it [for his own benefit] (AMP). God expects us to keep our word - our covenants - even when it doesn't make sense or when doing so would be make you look dumb to others.

The Lord expects this of us because He keeps His covenants (Ezekiel 16:60; Hebrews 6:18). He doesn't break covenant with us even when we fail to keep our end of the bargain. Plus, despite knowing we will fail, He still gives us His word and remains faithful. What a great blessing and privilege! Nevertheless, we shouldn't take His kindness for granted. And it is best to not provoke Him by making promises to Him and others then ignoring them (Jeremiah 7:19). We also need to realize that if we can't be trusted to keep our word, then we lose out on many blessings. After all, would you trust the best of what you have to somebody who's untrustworthy? Even Jesus says in Luke 16:11 - Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? (NKJV).

Let us ask for grace and strength to recall the promises we've made that remain outstanding. That grace will help us to honor the covenants we made with every intention to keep but somehow didn't. By His Spirit, we will discern when to, and when not to, enter into covenants. Thank God for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we can repent, receive forgiveness and make up for many of the promises we neglected to keep. He will build each of us into the trustworthy people we were created to be. IJMN, Amen.