Guaranteed With an Oath
An oath should carry great weight for both the person making it and the person receiving it. It’s a decisive appeal to the highest power available, intended to end all doubt over someone’s word and confirm the reliability of the promise being made. Though people have repeatedly made nonsense of oaths through lying and perjury, they are still meant to demonstrate the integrity of one’s word.
An oath is, of course, only as good as the character of the individual making it. Therefore, we know that God’s promises are trustworthy if for no other reason than the fact that He made them. He didn’t need to guarantee His promise with an oath; the bare promise of God to His people is sufficient to command our belief. Yet He went a step further, swearing by Himself, since He cannot swear by anyone or anything greater.
God has brought us from the realm of hopelessness into the reality of hope, and the anchor of our souls is secure and certain. It is fixed to an immovable object—the promises of God—and fixed in the unseen heavenly realm by the God who cannot lie. These promises are so secure, in fact, that sharing them with others in evangelism is compelling to them, because we live in a world that is full of desperation and a culture that tries to cover its discontentedness with fake smiles, vacations, and material gain.
How wonderful that we can be people who are grounded in faith, anchored by the promises of our God. Jesus Christ is worthy of our trust, and we can know that “all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20), whose life, death, resurrection, and ascension have achieved for us a momentous and eternal victory.
Which promises of God to you do you find hardest to trust and to build your life upon? Remember who made those promises. He is the same God who swore to childless, elderly Abraham that his descendants would be as innumerable as the stars in the sky above him—and who kept His promise. He is the same God who swore to His disciples that He would be rejected and killed, and then after three days rise again—and who kept His promise. Remember who has made the promises you find hard to believe. Remember what He is like. That is the anchor for your soul and the hope for your future.
How is God calling me to think differently?
How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?
What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?
Tell of All His Wondrous Works
1tOh give thanks to the Lord; ucall upon his name;
vmake known his deeds among the peoples!
2Sing to him, sing praises to him;
wtell of all his wondrous works!
3Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
4Seek the Lord and his xstrength;
yseek his presence continually!
5Remember the zwondrous works that he has done,
his miracles, and athe judgments he uttered,
6O offspring of bAbraham, his servant,
children of Jacob, his cchosen ones!
7He is the Lord our God;
his djudgments are in all the earth.
8He eremembers his covenant forever,
the word that he commanded, for fa thousand generations,
9gthe covenant that he made with Abraham,
his hsworn promise to Isaac,
10which he confirmed to iJacob as a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11saying, j“To you I will give the land of Canaan
as kyour portion for an inheritance.”
12When they were lfew in number,
of little account, and msojourners in it,
13wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another people,
14he nallowed no one to oppress them;
he orebuked kings on their account,
15saying, p“Touch not my anointed ones,
do my prophets no harm!”
16When he qsummoned a famine on the land
and rbroke all supply1 of bread,
17he had ssent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was tsold as a slave.
18His ufeet were hurt with fetters;
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19until vwhat he had said came to pass,
the word of the Lord wtested him.
20xThe king sent and yreleased him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free;
21he zmade him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions,
22to bind2 his princes at his pleasure
and to teach his elders wisdom.
23Then aIsrael came to Egypt;
Jacob bsojourned in cthe land of Ham.
24And the Lord dmade his people very fruitful
and made them stronger than their foes.
25He eturned their hearts to hate his people,
to fdeal craftily with his servants.
26He gsent Moses, his servant,
and Aaron, hwhom he had chosen.
27iThey performed his signs among them
and miracles in cthe land of Ham.
28He jsent darkness, and made the land dark;
they kdid not rebel3 against his words.
29He turned their waters into blood
and lcaused their fish to die.
30Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in mthe chambers of their kings.
31He spoke, and there came nswarms of flies,
oand gnats throughout their country.
32He gave them hail for rain,
and fiery plightning bolts through their land.
33He struck down their vines and fig trees,
and qshattered the trees of their country.
34He spoke, and the rlocusts came,
young locusts without number,
35which devoured all the vegetation in their land
and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36He sstruck down all the firstborn in their land,
sthe firstfruits of all their strength.
37Then he brought out Israel with tsilver and gold,
and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.
38uEgypt was glad when they departed,
for vdread of them had fallen upon it.
39He wspread a cloud for a covering,
and fire to give light by night.
40xThey asked, and he ybrought quail,
and gave them zbread from heaven in abundance.
41He opened the rock, and awater gushed out;
it flowed through bthe desert like a river.
42For he cremembered his holy promise,
and dAbraham, his servant.
43So he brought his people out with joy,
his dchosen ones with esinging.
44And he fgave them the lands of the nations,
and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil,
45that they might gkeep his statutes
and hobserve his laws.
iPraise the Lord!
Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, 2022, The Good Book Company.
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