Promises, Promises

I am becoming a bit tired of people not being able to keep their word. It has become quite fashionable within our culture to blurt out whatever sentences that needs to be said with little to no intention of ever following through. Promise now and have no worries of paying later. If only human beings would keep their bond like God does. I believe one of the reasons that we have such a hard time believing God’s promises is because we reduce him to be no better than us and human nature breaks covenants quite easily.
Broken promises! I just say that and it brings to mind probably some painful moments and memories. “I promise that we will always be together…” and no wedding day couple surrounded by bliss ever thinks that they will be one of the two out of every three couples who will go down the road that leads to broken vows and eventually divorce court. “I promise that next week, next year, someday, Daddy and Mommy will take you and it will be just us…” and that time never comes and time does not make the promise fade away. It only deepens the longing that maybe this will be the year. And adult children feel sort of silly as they still find themselves believing that this promise just might be fulfilled.
Humans try to keep their word. We even throw in lines like, “I give you my word, I swear, I cross my heart and hope to die,” but we still come up short. And as many times as we have either made a promise that we did not keep or had a promise made to us that ended up as nothing more than nice words with no substance, God keeps His word every time! God doesn’t break His promises and the good news is that we can’t break them either. So go ahead and put all your weight upon them. As a matter of fact, God implores us that we should lean on His word fully and always. A promise from God is a statement we can depend on with absolute confidence.
Now I am grateful that not every person or parent ignores their words. I want to share with you the story of a father’s promise that was kept. Several years ago, an 8.2 earthquake almost flattened Armenia, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. It’s hard to imagine the anguish, pain and the suffering resulting from this brief passage of time but in a moment, worlds were shaken and lives crushed.
In the midst of the chaos and mass destruction, a father rushed to his son’s school. He found little resemblance to an educational institution when he arrived on the scene. He found a shapeless, heap of rubble. That did not impair him in any way at all for he sprang right into action and began digging through the boulders frantically looking for his boy. He did not care about the odds of finding him for all he knew was that he made a promise to always be there for his little boy. It was this promise that drove this man to keep on digging with his hands and hope within his heart.
As he began to dig, well-meaning parents tried to pull him away. “It’s too late!” they cried out. “They’re all dead, you can’t help,” they added. “Go home! There’s nothing you can do,” the fire chief tried to discourage this man to continue his mission but the only way they were going to get this man to quit was by killing him.
Two hours became four and soon, eight became 16. With no food and no sleep, the father pressed on. Nobody tried to stop him anymore and boulder after boulder was shoved aside, moved now only by shear adrenaline and a father’s love. In the 38th hour, he pulled back a boulder and heard his son’s voice. Immediately, he screamed, “Armand!” Back came the words, “Dad!? I told them! I told the other kids that if you were still alive, you’d come! You promised me, you’d always be there for me! You did it, Dad!”
A determined father, a promise kept and a stone rolled away to reveal life and give freedom. The story of Armand’s Dad points to another father who kept a greater promise when He rolled away the stone to unleash life on Easter morning almost 2000 years ago. With the rolling away of that boulder, Jesus came forth and became the way for us to know freedom and forgiveness and to experience promises made and honored. You know what? Our Heavenly Father is still in the business of rolling away the stones!
What are the boulders in your life today that have you bogged down and suffocating? It doesn’t matter how big or how long they have been there. God wants to move them right here and right now and set you free to be rebuilt yourself. Recreated by Him as He first intended you to be! No matter how bad it gets on earth, God will keep His promise. No matter what others say, He won’t stop digging for you. Will you call out His Name today? Life is so much better standing upon the rock rather than being bowled over underneath them!
Listen to “My Lighthouse with Pastor Rudy” every Sunday at 12:30 PM and 9PM on 97.9 LIFT FM. You can reach Pastor Rudy by emailing pastorrudytlc@comcast.net