Holding onto the Promise of God
Do you sometimes feel like God is letting you down? Like you are in a terrible situation and God is simply not responding to you, maybe not even caring about your difficulties?
Truth be told, every Christian feels this way at some point. We read verses like, “Ask for anything in My Name and it will be given to you (John 14:13),” but don’t see the fruit of that, and so we think that God is not listening to us at all. We may even think that He is “enjoying” watching us suffer somehow.
God Is Not Slow
First, it is important to understand that God is never enjoying our suffering. God is love. He is everything that is explained in 1 Corinthians 13, so He is incapable of enjoying the suffering of others. In fact, He grieves when we struggle.
He also is not “slow.” 2 Peter 3:9 tell us: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God is coming in and doing what He needs to do for each one of us at the perfect time.
Now, some will say that this verse is talking about repentance and not about my need for money because my car broke down and, to a point, they are right. However, to be honest, I likely need to be repenting for about 70 percent of the things I do in life. I miss the mark so often that you would think I was blindfolded, playing “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” Yet, God is patient with me, wanting to see me come to repentance.
In other areas, God is not slow either. He is working things out in his perfect timing because our lives are quite complex. We may not be ready for God to provide a solution. Our heart may not be in the right place. We may not be mature enough. God may have to wait because we are not truly ready for the solution. Considering that He knows what is going to happen in the future, He may see that providing the solution right now could actually do more harm than good.
You also have to consider this verse. We have all read and said Romans 8:28 a hundred times. “All things work for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” I want you to think that if everything that God does is for the good of every person involved, think about the intricate web God must weave at perfect time to make that thing happen.
Let’s just take a small example. I need new car, so my wife and I go to the dealership. Think of all the people involved who God is doing something “good” with. The salesmen is obviously getting something good – a commission, but so is his family, boss, coworkers, and their families. All the people who helped make the car and their families are benefitting. The finance people and their families also benefit. Maybe ten of those people give money to charities because of me buying that car, so those charities benefit, and the people who utilize those charities benefit. The government gets tax money, which benefits government employees and their families, and helps those in need of assistance. Without exaggerating, my purchase of a car did good things for millions of people. It is crazy, but it is true.
When You Don’t See the Promise Yourself
It is great to want something and see God deliver right away. However, there are many instances where a promise or blessing from God may occur long after you are gone.
Think about the guy working at the car manufacturing plant. He may have a retirement account that he hopes he will be able to live off in his golden years. However, if he dies at 60, he never gets to see that money. However, he may have set up that account to benefit his wife, and he can be sure that, even if he is not around, his wife will still be financially stable.
This is a common theme in the Bible. Think about Abraham for a moment. In Genesis 12:1-3, God promised him that he would be a great nation. In Genesis 17:3-5, God promised to make the number of his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. These were guarantees from God.
Genesis 15:6 tells us that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. He had absolute belief that God was going to do these things, and we read these accounts today and think that it was perfectly “natural” of him to do so.
However, I want you to think about this – Abraham was promised something that he, himself, would never see. It is very unlikely that he believed that God was going to suddenly give him hundreds of millions of offspring in 40 or 50 years. He also did not likely believe that he was going to live to be 3000 years old. He trusted that God was going to give him something that he would never see.
Yet, God still made him a great nation. Maybe Abraham did not get to enjoy the promise, but hundreds of generations since are reveling in the promise given to this man. Also, Abraham likely had no idea at the time, but God ensured that Abraham is heralded as an incredible man across three different faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). He is the example of faith to billions of people on the planet, and he had no idea that this would occur.
Abraham had the same mindset as the man who has a big retirement account but may not be around to enjoy it. He was looking at the promise of God and believed that His Father in Heaven was going to be true to the things that He promised, even if he would never see those things occur.
Can We Be This Faithful?
This begs the question for each of us: Could we be this faithful in walking for God if the promises He made to us would not occur in our lifetimes? To be honest, I don’t know if I could. If God said to me, “Rob, there will be 1000 Hope CDAs one day based upon principles I gave you, but that will not occur for 100 years,” would I be celebrating? I would hope so, but I may just think, “That’s great but that doesn’t really do anything for me.”
We live in a world that wants answers and solutions, and we want them right now. We want the microwave Word from God, not understanding that His solution may take time. In fact, it may not happen in your lifetime! Should that make it less important to you?
Josh Hansen Living out the Promise
On Monday, April 14, at 6:00 p.m., we will celebrate the promise that God made to Josh Hansen. Josh came to Hope CDA looking for a new way. He wanted to overcome drug addiction and to have a life of freedom from shame and slavery. That promise came true!
Did Josh know when he began this journey that God would deliver on the promise? I would say no. I would even suggest that it is safe to say that he did not really have much faith in anything God said. However, God proved to be faithful. God proved to do as He had promised Josh – to change His life through the blood of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Josh was blessed to see how God made this change. However, this change did not just benefit him. Like in the case of me buying the car, countless people are affected by Josh’s decision to change his life. He stood on the promise of God and now he is a new man. He has also impacted hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of new men and women.
God’s promises are truly amazing – for all of us.
It’s Set in Concrete
Hope Services will begin a concrete business starting on April 21. Hope CDA Foreman Shane Ness will be leading the endeavor.
While Hope is not in the position to lay the foundation for a 10,000 square foot industrial complex, we are finding that many have small-to-mid-sized jobs that some of the other contractors in the area are unwilling to do because they are not “big enough.” We love these kinds of projects and are here to help. Shane and Nick Schiefer have nearly two decades of experience in the concrete industry and are ready to take on your project today.
Contact Shane at (319) 640-5630 to find out more details.
Hope Good News
Chance Griffith was accepted into the program last week and will begin on Wednesday. Let us pray for the continual growth and success of Chance as he begins his journey at Hope… Eric Wilson and Cody Eickhoff will celebrate their graduations on Monday, April 28, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. at the Mission of Hope. Please mark your calendars for this momentous occasion… Eric also got his driver’s license last week. Congratulations to Eric!… Troy Lloyd begins his outside job on Monday, April 14. Men in the program can work an outside job as early as six weeks before they graduate. Congratulations to Troy.
Prayers for the Week
We ask you to join in prayer for these things:
- We ask you to pray for Josh as he moves to the next stage of his life. Let him always remain focused on God.
- We also ask you to pray for Josh’s family. His maternal grandfather died on Friday. We grieve with them and ask you to pray for comfort.
- We ask you to pray for Chance as he begins his journey at Hope CDA. Let him cast out the demon of addiction and live a life free from alcohol and drugs.
- We pray for Troy in his new job. May he bring Jesus with him wherever he goes.
Tuesday Night Encouragement at Hope CDA
This Tuesday, Hope CDA Executive Director Dr. Robert Pannier and his beautiful wife Lori will discuss marriage and building the right kind of relationship built on God. Please come and join us at 6:00.
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