Hold On To That Promise

One stormy night an elderly couple entered the lobby of a small hotel and asked for a room. The clerk said they were full, and they would probably find so were all the hotels in town. "But I can’t send a fine couple like you out in the rain. Would you be willing to sleep in my room?" The couple hesitated, but the clerk insisted.

The next morning when the man paid his bill, he said, "You’re the kind of man who should be managing the best hotel in the United States. Someday I’ll build you one." The clerk smiled politely.

A few years later the clerk received a letter containing an airplane ticket; the letter invited him to visit New York. When the clerk arrived, his host took him to the corner of 5th Avenue and 34th Street, where stood a magnificent new building. "That," explained the man, "is the hotel I have built for you to manage." The man was William Waldorf Astor, and the hotel was the original Waldorf-Astoria. It was a promise made, and a promise kept.

I wonder today, has God given you a promise or two from days gone by? Have you forgotten it/them? Or is it possible that you have come to believe that God has forgotten them? The fact is, God never forgets the promises He makes. And His timing is impeccable though it might appear delayed.

When God sent Moses to deliver His people, He sent him with the assurance that He had not forgotten the covenant promise He had made to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, though He had made it several hundred years before. In Exodus 6 God spoke to Moses and said, “I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.’” (Exodus 6:4–6)

Yet in that same chapter Moses spoke to the people and the passage says, “…but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.” (Exodus 6:9) Over the years they had stopped worshipping God and subsequently forgotten His promises and no longer remembered His Words. They became slaves to their enemies, lost hope for their future, and eventually had no concept of Jehovah God. And it all had its origin in the forgotten promise of God that led to their disobedience and bondage.

But through it all, God never forgot His covenant promise. And at the right time God would initiate its fulfillment. It was a covenant promise with two aspects. First, redemption. God would redeem His people, not because they/we deserved it, but because they/we are loved despite our rebellion. Second, reward. God’s covenant promised redemptive act included the reward of a new and prosperous destination… a land flowing with milk and honey. Now, fast-forward to Jesus. Jesus became the New Covenant bringing the promise of redemption and eternal reward just as God had promised us through Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets.

Here is the practical application… if God would keep His promises through the ages, you can bet that any promises He has given you are good regardless of how long they may take to arrive. So, hold on to that promise, God hasn’t forgotten!

And remember, God is always trying to take you someplace new. I love being your Pastor!

For God’s Glory Alone,
Pastor Ray

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