Standing on God’s Promises – March 6, 2023

Read: Genesis 12:1-8

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
Genesis 12:3

Standing on God’s Promises

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There’s an old saying: “Promises, like pie crusts, are made to be broken.” Have you ever made a promise but then you broke it? Have you felt the pain caused by the making and breaking of a promise? Moms and dads promise to take their kids to McDonalds or Chuck E. Cheese, but then don’t keep their promise. Husbands and wives promise to love each other until death do they part, and yet nearly half of all marriages in our country end in divorce.

God is a promise-maker. The Bible is packed full of his promises—like the promise in today’s devotion to people like Abraham. It was a promise of a Savior, a promise to protect, provide, and pardon.

When Abram was 75 years old, God told him to pick up and move together with his wife to a far-off land. He promised to bless Abram. He promised that Abram’s descendants would be so many, they would outnumber the stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore. He promised that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him.

But Abram was old. His wife Sarai was old. They had no children. God’s promises might have looked like a pie crust about to be broken.

But God isn’t only a promise-maker. He is also a promise-keeper. Every promise God ever made in the Bible he has kept. Twenty-five years after God made the promise to Abram that he would make his family into a great nation, God kept his promise. Abram and Sarai miraculously had a son in their old age. Abram’s descendants would be a great nation.

And all the peoples of the earth were blessed through Abram, because one of his descendants, Jesus, lived and died for the sins of every person who has ever lived. God’s pie crusts never get broken. Because God always keeps his promises.

Remember that the next time you are lying in your bed unable to sleep because you are afraid. God promises to be with you and protect you. And God always keeps his promises.

Remember that the next time you mess up—the next time you do something bad. God promises to forgive every screwup and sin because of Jesus. And God always keeps his promises.

In our world today, promises are often like pie crusts. They are easily broken. Thankfully, God’s promises never are.

Closing Prayer:

Dear God, give me a simple trust in your promises. Thank you for the faith you have given me. When I worry and experience moments of weakness, help me stand and be strong knowing you can do all things. This I ask for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• What promises did God make to Abram?
• What promise has God made to you?

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• Instead of trusting, we often worry or are afraid. Why is it so hard for us to trust God’s promises?
• How does the story of Abram and Sarai help us to trust God’s promises in situations that seem impossible?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• If God promises to make everything in our lives work out for our good, why doesn’t he always do what we ask him to do in our prayers?
• When we struggle with doubt about whether God’s promises are true, how does today’s devotion direct us to what we should do?