Reason #551
People will say anything or do anything to get you to buy their product, join their group, support their cause, work for them, go on a date with them, use their services, or get your business. And sometimes they'll tell you exactly what you want to hear in order to do that. You want to take people at their word. You want to believe them. Really, you have no reason not to until they give you the opportunity to do so. And so you trust them. You trust that if they say they can fix your problem, they will. You trust that if they say they know the answer, they do. You trust that if they give you their word, make a promise to you, if say they will do something, they actually can and will.
My dad made a statement to me not very long ago about guarantees. In a round about way, he basically said the only guarantee in life is that there is no guarantee. He was right, too, and it was kind of a frightening thought. But you've been there. Don't tell me you don't understand what I'm talking about. You expected one thing, and you got another. You were told one thing, and it didn't happen. You were promised this or that, and you got nothing. But the truth is, there was never a guarantee in the first place that things would actually happen like you thought. It was all a trust issue from the start. And so you end up with what you end up with no matter how you feel about it. Trust is a tricky thing, and there really is no sure fire way to make sure that everything you are ever promised or told really will happen the way it was presented.
For some reason in life, we feel that if we done certain things, gone through certain trials, or encountered certain difficulties, we should never have to do it again. That's a nice thought, and I wish that were the case. But just because you got sick once and were healed doesn't mean you may never get sick again. And just because you were betrayed or let down once doesn't mean that it will never happen to you again. Maybe you lost a job, or an investment you made went bad, there's no guarantee that the next job you have will be your forever job and that every other investment from now on will only bring gains. And maybe you went through a really hurt filled season. Maybe you endured more loss than you thought you'd ever have to endure by losing someone really, really close to you that you loved a whole lot. There's no guarantee that you won't ever lose another person you love or walk through another season of pain. Going through something once doesn't exempt us from the rest of life.
But on the flip side, maybe you made a really bad choice. Maybe you messed up big time and failed miserably. It doesn't mean that you will only fail and mess up for the rest of your life. It doesn't mean that you won't ever receive anything good or be restored. And maybe you have been through a lot of tough stuff and it seems to be the prevailing theme. It doesn't mean that you will never go through seasons of joy and happiness. Maybe you missed a great opportunity or passed up the perfect chance. It doesn't mean you will never be given one again. So you see, good or bad, there's never a guarantee either way.
Yet as discouraging and confusing as this may be, there is an exception guarantee in life. We are guaranteed that whatever the Lord says, He will do. That every promise of His will be kept. We can guarantee that we'll never be alone because He told us He'd never leave nor forsake us. We can guarantee that our sins are forgiven and we're righteous in His sight because He sent His Son to die our death. We can guarantee that we are loved because He told us that His love for us runs deep. We can guarantee that we will be restored, renewed, and our burdens will be lightened because He said He would carry the weight for us. We can guarantee that He will bring good because He said He always does. And we can guarantee that we can trust Him with our entire being, with every breath, every decision, every situation, and every action, because He has proven time and time again to be a trustworthy God.
I'm thankful to serve a God who is trustworthy. A God who keeps every single word, and never breaks a promise. In a world that tells us what we want to hear but doesn't always follow through with it, I'm thankful to serve a God who is not just talk but whose actions actually prove true.
#551 - Because His word is guaranteed truth, and His actions prove it.
"All he does is just and good, and all his commandments are trustworthy. They are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity. He has paid a full ransom for his people. He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever. What a holy, awe-inspiring name he has!" - Psalm 111:7-9
My dad made a statement to me not very long ago about guarantees. In a round about way, he basically said the only guarantee in life is that there is no guarantee. He was right, too, and it was kind of a frightening thought. But you've been there. Don't tell me you don't understand what I'm talking about. You expected one thing, and you got another. You were told one thing, and it didn't happen. You were promised this or that, and you got nothing. But the truth is, there was never a guarantee in the first place that things would actually happen like you thought. It was all a trust issue from the start. And so you end up with what you end up with no matter how you feel about it. Trust is a tricky thing, and there really is no sure fire way to make sure that everything you are ever promised or told really will happen the way it was presented.
For some reason in life, we feel that if we done certain things, gone through certain trials, or encountered certain difficulties, we should never have to do it again. That's a nice thought, and I wish that were the case. But just because you got sick once and were healed doesn't mean you may never get sick again. And just because you were betrayed or let down once doesn't mean that it will never happen to you again. Maybe you lost a job, or an investment you made went bad, there's no guarantee that the next job you have will be your forever job and that every other investment from now on will only bring gains. And maybe you went through a really hurt filled season. Maybe you endured more loss than you thought you'd ever have to endure by losing someone really, really close to you that you loved a whole lot. There's no guarantee that you won't ever lose another person you love or walk through another season of pain. Going through something once doesn't exempt us from the rest of life.
But on the flip side, maybe you made a really bad choice. Maybe you messed up big time and failed miserably. It doesn't mean that you will only fail and mess up for the rest of your life. It doesn't mean that you won't ever receive anything good or be restored. And maybe you have been through a lot of tough stuff and it seems to be the prevailing theme. It doesn't mean that you will never go through seasons of joy and happiness. Maybe you missed a great opportunity or passed up the perfect chance. It doesn't mean you will never be given one again. So you see, good or bad, there's never a guarantee either way.
Yet as discouraging and confusing as this may be, there is an exception guarantee in life. We are guaranteed that whatever the Lord says, He will do. That every promise of His will be kept. We can guarantee that we'll never be alone because He told us He'd never leave nor forsake us. We can guarantee that our sins are forgiven and we're righteous in His sight because He sent His Son to die our death. We can guarantee that we are loved because He told us that His love for us runs deep. We can guarantee that we will be restored, renewed, and our burdens will be lightened because He said He would carry the weight for us. We can guarantee that He will bring good because He said He always does. And we can guarantee that we can trust Him with our entire being, with every breath, every decision, every situation, and every action, because He has proven time and time again to be a trustworthy God.
I'm thankful to serve a God who is trustworthy. A God who keeps every single word, and never breaks a promise. In a world that tells us what we want to hear but doesn't always follow through with it, I'm thankful to serve a God who is not just talk but whose actions actually prove true.
#551 - Because His word is guaranteed truth, and His actions prove it.
"All he does is just and good, and all his commandments are trustworthy. They are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity. He has paid a full ransom for his people. He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever. What a holy, awe-inspiring name he has!" - Psalm 111:7-9
Comments
Post a Comment