REFLECTIONS
April 6, 2008
 
 
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
Psalms 119:105
 
 
God’s Promises
 
They were a strikingly handsome couple—well known in the community and well to do. He was very close to his family, especially his nephew. Maybe that was because he had no children of his own. He and Sarai prayed daily for God to give them a child, but so far the prayers were unanswered. Perhaps those unanswered prayers were the reason that Abram listened to God so intently. Perhaps that is why he kept looking for signs. Perhaps that is what he was listening for when “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’” (Gen 12:1)
God’s instruction must have seemed odd to Abram, but he had moved with his father earlier in his life, so maybe it was no big deal to move again. Besides, God’s promise was intriguing. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you,” (Gen 12:2). Yet, Abram must have been puzzled since his prayer was to be blessed with a child, not to become a great nation. Did God not understand? He must have wondered why God would promise to make him into a great nation and ignore his prayer for a child. But Abram in his faith kept on walking down the path God set before him. Surely there would be an answer sometime. And there was.
God’s ways are not our ways. For God’s promise to be fulfilled, Abram must surely have an heir, but there were many other bridges to cross and roads to travel in God’s plan. Abram just couldn’t see the whole picture yet.
Chuck Swindoll once said, “God’s word may be a lamp to our feet and a light for our paths, but He doesn’t show us the horizon.” And so it was with Abram; and so it is in our own lives.
One of God’s promises is answered prayer; but God answers prayers much like He fulfills his promises. We wait anxiously for answers and hear Him say, “Not now,” long before He reveals the answer He had in mind. And when his answers come, seldom are they in the manner we expect. God promises to be a light for our path, but He doesn’t promise to reveal the horizon. But our faith tells us there is one.
God’s promises often take longer than we want, and they rarely come in the ways we had planned. But God’s ways are not our ways. Like Abram, let us walk in faith down the path God has set before us.
After all, that’s where the Light is.
 
 “You are the light of the world,”
Richard Ì

www.reflectingthesavior.org.


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