Grafton
Free Presbyterian
Church
A Brief Meditation for the Month
June 2022
The people of Australia have just recently entered a new phase in history with the election of a new parliament. Everyone appears to be anticipating changes of various kinds to take place in our lives because a political party with different policies and perhaps a dissimilar agenda to those of the previous government intends to apply and implement them in due course. During the political campaigning of the past weeks, we have heard from the hustings, promises, promises, and more promises to the electorate. Some of these promises have even been embellished with verbal guarantees. Politicians, however, like the rest of us, are mortal. To such, God says, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth,” Proverbs 27:1. He also says: “ye know not what shall be on the morrow,” James 4:14.
Promises of a near utopian society, made with great confidence, may perhaps raise the expectations of those of the electorate who work long and hard to “keep the wolf from the door” and who struggle to pay their mortgages. Others may hope for job security, a healthier environment, and a classless society. Their dreams are of a better and brighter future, based upon the strident promises ringing in their ears, day after day. When, however, the promises fail to come to fruition, and their hopes are shattered, while their dreams evaporate faster than their hopes took to evolve, they are faced with the stark reality that the ability to execute, even well-intentioned promises, is somewhat more difficult than making them.
How much better is the hope of God’s children, which is established upon His faithful promises. The apostle Peter describes them as; “exceeding great and precious promises,” 2Peter 1:4. When God makes a promise, he keeps his word. In the Book of Ezekiel, God says, “I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass…and I will perform it, saith the Lord God,” Ezekiel 12:25. The apostle Paul relates an experience when he found himself and his fellow travellers in a hopeless situation—all hope was gone, Acts 27:20; yet he stood confidently before men who were expecting the worst and announced, “I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me,” Acts 27:25. God’s messenger had brought God’s promise to the apostle, assuring him that what appeared to be, humanly speaking, an impossibility under the circumstances was a certainty about to be accomplished. Paul received the divine promise by faith and witnessed its fulfilment. God kept His word to him. Our faithful, reliable God promises his trusting people grace and glory. He promises his poor dependent, believing children a free and full salvation, complete forgiveness of sins, and assured sanctification, making them perfectly holy and prepared to dwell with Him in glory. They are assured that between their justification and their glorification, He will supply all their needs and that he will never forsake them. Although the Lord’s people live in the real world, experiencing many disappointments resulting from unfulfilled promises made by mortal creatures to them, they nevertheless have entirely reliable promises upon which they can build their hope for time and eternity. When Paul wrote his first epistle to the Thessalonians, he assured them: “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” 1Thessalonians 5:24. The Psalmist had such confidence in God’s words of promise that he was able to testify, “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me,” Psalm138:8. God’s promises to his dear people are so reliable that they should make them the happiest people on earth. They are entitled to enjoy the most assured hope that any person can have in this world.
G. G. Hutton.