The Promises of God
The Promises of God: Letting go of false promises and clinging to the One who promises
Are you believing false promises or treating God like a magic genie? Lean into the One who makes the promises and learn to trust in His goodness.
My oldest is currently in 4th grade, and the poor boy has been to five different schools during this time. Some of the change was based on things I chose – like trying (and quitting) homeschooling or moving to a new state, but some of the change was outside of my control, ie. a pandemic.
His schooling has been a major stressor for me, starting with his kindergarten year.
At the time, we were living in a different state and there was one school in our town that was the “best.” It was a charter with just one class per grade, and new students were chosen through a lottery system.
So the year before he was to start kindergarten, I, along with everyone else in town, attended the informational meeting night, learned about the school, and submitted his name for the lottery.
And I’ll tell you what. I had no doubt in my mind that he would be chosen for this school because I believe in the promises of God:
John 14:13-14
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
I prayed. My husband prayed. And I was 100 percent sure I would get “the call” letting us know he was chosen.
The day came, and we got a call. The wrong one. My son did not get into this school.
And I was devastated. Truly.
I felt as if God had let me down. In His own words, he says our faith will move mountains (Matthew 17:20), and I had faith. I had so much faith that I was honestly shocked that my son did not get into this school.
So who is in the wrong here? Did God lie? Or was I believing in promises that God never made?
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The Promises of God
First and foremost, God did not lie. He cannot lie. God makes so many promises in His Word, but the trouble comes when we take individual verses out of context and treat God as a sort of magic genie. With my son’s schooling, I was so focused on what I wanted, rather than what God had planned.
James 4:3
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Instead of praying my selfish prayer of “God, please allow us to win this school lottery,” I should have been praying “God, I know that you have the right school planned for my son – your will be done in this situation.” Our hearts need to be aligned with God and His will for our lives, rather than the worldly desires of our flesh.
We need to let go of the false promises of God that we believe and cling to the One who promises. What promises can we cling to instead?
God is good.
Nahum 1:7
The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.
God is good, and He knows each of us personally. We need to first trust that fact in order to fully surrender to Him and live our lives for Him.
We need to know that God is good and that He is worthy of our praise and surrender so we can trust Him when things don’t work out the way we think they should.
God has a plan.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
God has a plan for His people, and we need to trust that His plans are for our good, even when they don’t seem good. I thought that the only good choice for my son’s school was the one that I wanted; but that wasn’t the plan that God had for our family.
Because our son didn’t get into that charter, we actually sold our house and moved into a new home in a better school district. That choice led to a whole other series of events that wouldn’t have taken place had we not moved.
God’s plan is better than mine.
God is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
2 Timothy 2:13
if we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself.
When we talk about God being faithful, we mean that He is trustworthy. We can fully trust Him because he remains faithful to us, His children, even when we don’t deserve it. We can have hope in God to best lead us because He knows the full picture, He is good, and He has our best interests in mind.
God uses the bad for His good.
Genesis 50:20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Even when bad things happen to us and we don’t understand why they are happening, we can have hope that God is using that situation for good. In the midst of suffering and trials, it can be difficult to trust this, but looking back at the bad things in my life, I can see how God used them to bring blessings to me and my family.
When we focus on His trustworthy character, we can trust in the midst of darkness and cling to the light.
Dear God, thank you for being you. I praise you for your goodness, and I pray that I will turn from believing in false promises and instead cling to you who makes the promises. I know that I won’t always understand your ways, but I do know you, and I know that you are good and that the plans you have for me are good.
You use bad situations for my good, so instead of treating you like a genie, I pray to grow in my faith and instead worship and praise you for being you. Thank you for loving me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I learned a lot during that time, and I can see how God uses the bad things in life for my good. Instead of believing false promises of God, I will cling to the one who makes the promises. His will be done.
Blessings Friend.
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