God's Unbroken Promises

We live in a world of broken promises. Every other year, politicians run for office, often making claims bigger than they can fulfill. Employers, trying to recruit good-quality employees, often inflate the scope of the benefits and overstate the size of the opportunity. Parents assure their kids, sometimes, of outcomes out of their control.

Sometimes people or institutions make promises they intend to keep, but events and circumstances arrive that force their hands. And at other times, shady people offer shady deals they never intended to follow through on.

If you live long enough—and as I speed toward that half-century mark, I think I qualify—people will let you down. Sometimes they will be people you thought you could trust. Sometimes they will be people with whom you were very close. Sometimes they will even be lifelong friends. I will not sugarcoat this. It’s not easy. It’s hard.

There will also be moments where you, despite your best efforts, will let people down. You’ll let down your family, your coworkers, and your friends. You’ll make promises you can’t keep. You’ll underwhelm someone’s expectations. I’ve done it. I still do it.

God, however, will never let us down. I love Psalm 46:1-3:

God is our refuge and strength,
a helper who is always found
in times of trouble.
Therefore we will not be afraid,
though the earth trembles
and the mountains topple
into the depths of the seas,
though its water roars and foams
and the mountains quake with its turmoil. Selah

I’ve been thinking a lot about this as I try to finish this project on the prophecies of the incarnation, a new advent book for Moody that will release in Christmas of 2027. If there is a theme of the Old Testament, it is this: God’s revelation of the promise of a Savior unfolds even as the people through whom the promise is delivered do the best they can to thwart it.

God promises a seed from the woman who will crush the seed of the serpent. But what if both seeds intermingle and create such violence that God has to destroy the earth in the flood? No problem, God will deliver humankind through one family in a big boat.

God promises a nation from one man, Abram. But what if this otherwise faithful and obedient patriarch lies about his wife twice and has a child with his maid? Still, God keeps his promise with Isaac. But what if Abraham’s grandson Jacob schemes and lies, has multiple wives and a dysfunctional family and nearly starves in a worldwide famine? No worry, he’ll raise up Joseph to save his family and preserve God’s promise.

What if David, the chosen king, has a man murdered after seducing his wife? What if he has multiple wives and a dysfunctional household and chaotic kingdom with two near coups? God still promises that David’s throne will last forever.

But what if David’s descendants split the kingdom? What if they have a series of kings who are so bad, God gradually allows the surrounding nations to conquer them? What if, at one point, every Davidic heir is nearly killed by a wicked queen? No problem, for God will raise up a righteous priest and wife who will hide the last remaining son of David in a secret room in the temple.

What if the surrounding nations eventually overwhelm Judah and the house of David falls into enemy control? What if there is silence for four hundred years: no angels, no prophets? No problem, for God will keep his promise of a virgin-born God-man. But what if the Jewish couple, both children of David, are poor peasants on the backside of the Roman empire? No problem, for God will send kings from the East to lavish them with gifts.

But what if a wicked king in Israel, an illegitimate monarch on David’s throne, threatens to kill baby Jesus? No problem, for God will send angels to warn the faithful and obedient Joseph to take his Son to Egypt.

You see the theme? Humans fail, God delivers. God keeps his promises.

Now I know what you are thinking because I’ve thought it myself. God seems to have let me down. With this cancer diagnosis. With this troubled marriage. With this difficult economic situation. With this prodigal child. With this war-torn land.

Sometimes it seems God has not kept his end of the bargain. But maybe it is us who have misread the agreement. God hasn’t promised us ease in this life. In fact, Jesus told his disciples: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

The promise of God is not that we won’t have trouble. The promise is that God will guide us through the trouble and take us home. God has already delivered on his promise to save us from our sins in Jesus. And God will fully fulfill this promise when he comes again to renew and restore the world. He will raise us up again, body and soul, for eternity.

I’ve learned in my life that sometimes the only constant, the only refuge, the only sure thing is Christ. When the waves are rocky, when the winds blow, when the world is crashing in, there is Jesus.

Latest work:

I’ve been a bit quiet lately on here, mainly due to intensified focus on the projects I’m trying to complete this summer and some travel. I took my youngest two girls on a college tour around the country. I had a wonderful time with them. We are also preparing to move our son Daniel to Samford for his freshman year.

I did manage to have this column posted at World, on an interesting new proposal to help young parents with the cost of childbirth:

This piece of legislation is aimed directly at the financial costs associated with childbirth, when parents cut back on working hours to prioritize bonding with their baby even as new expenses like diapers and hospital bills hit their pocketbooks. The bill allows parents to claim a $2,000 refundable tax credit for a newborn, which is structured so parents can claim it soon after childbirth, rather than waiting until tax time.

According to one survey, a family’s household income drops 10% during the first year of a child’s life. If passed, this new bill could alleviate some of the burden, especially for single-earner married households or moms physically recovering from a challenging pregnancy and delivery.

According to policy analyst and pro-life advocate Leah Sargeant, many of the pro-family supports existing in the current tax code are helpful but don’t provide fast relief for parents when a baby is born. The recently expanded Child Tax Credit provides relief specifically in tax season, while the newly created Trump Accounts set the stage for wealth building for children as they become adults. This new idea would complement these existing conservative policy achievements with more immediate help for parents in the first year of a newborn’s life.

You can read it all here

I’m also working on several projects:

• The aforementioned Christmas Prophecies Advent book for Moody.

• Contributions to a study Bible with Thomas Nelson, edited by Nathan Finn and Benjamin Quinn

• A paper for the Evangelical Theological Society on Chuck Colson

• A chapter for a new volume on Carl Henry edited by Nathan Finn

• I just finished edits on a chapter on co-belligerency in Baptist Social Ethics edited by Jason Thacker and Nathan Finn

And of course I’m thrilled about the fall semester at Texas Baptist College where I’m teaching both Intro to Christian Ethics and Human Dignity.

I pray this summer has been good for you and your family. Would love to hear your feedback.