When God Doesn’t Seem To Make Sense
“Penetrating Promises For Perplexing Problems”
2 Corinthians 1:20
Life has taught us “promises are made to be broken.” So we’ve learned to take promises with a grain of salt. Yet the Christian faith calls us to stake our earthly and eternal destinies upon God’s promises. For this reason it is important that we understand the nature of His promises and how they are realized in our lives.
Let me ask, if you can trust God to get you to heaven successfully, do you think getting you through this life safely is any harder? Key… How we deal with the second part of that question really determines our true reliance on God!
2 Peter 1:3-5 “…His divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. And by that same mighty power, He has given us all of His rich and wonderful promises...So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life.” NLT
Bottom Line…before we will trust and rely on God’s promises, we must realize that promises abundantly apply:
1. God’s Immutable Pledge For Our Lives.
Just as one would drill deep into the crust of the earth for oil, we need promises that drive deep into the perplexing problems of life! This is why God gives us these over 8000 promises in His Word!
With the deep-seated problems that all of us face at times, we need deep-seated trust, first in the person of God and then in the promises of God! Easier said than done, AMEN!
You see, God wants to make His unchanging nature very clear to the heirs of His promises!
In His sacred oath, He has voluntarily sworn by the highest power in the universe—Himself.
Hebrews 6:17-19
LifePoint: A promise is hope in the middle of a problem!
Genesis 22:16,17 “By Myself I have sworn…I will bless and multiply…as the sands of seashore, your descendants shall possess the gates of your enemies …”
Isaiah 45:23,24 “I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth…that to Me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess…(millennium period).”
2. God’s Immovable Passion For Our Lives.
Promises are how God shows his passion for our lives! Have you ever thought that love; mercy and grace are all by - products of God’s passion over your life?
Love
1 John 3:1 “Behold what manner (how it’s shown) of love the father has for us that we should be called the children of God.”
John 3:16
Mercy
Lamentations 3:22-24
Grace
2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiently in all things…”
3. God’s Immediate Perspective For Our Lives.
Perspective = a specific point of view in understanding or judging things or events. The ability to see things in its true relationship.
1 Corinthians 2:9-12
Watch…God gives us promises for life so we will lean on what the Holy Spirit knows about our problems in life!
Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:13 “Happy is the man who finds wisdom (Bible) and the man who gains understanding (Spirit).”
The next time we are faced with a problem…
Think of God’s promises as nuggets of His wisdom
Romans 11:33 “Oh what a wonderful God we have. How great are His riches, and wisdom and knowledge. How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His methods.” NLT
Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong to the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us."
LifePoint: God uses penetrating promises to reveal His character of truth, His choice of trials and His control of our tribulations.
4. God’s Impressive Plan For Our Lives.
Israel…is our example for God’s plans for His people!
Joseph…dysfunctional family…from a pit to a palace!
Gideon…a fearful farmer…a mighty man of valor!
Judges 6:13 “…If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracles…?”
What Gideon didn’t know was that he was the next visual aid for his nation! Watch out, that might even happen to you!
Ester…becoming queen over a nation…most powerful…
Ruth…Her husband took the whole family to Moab…
You may be thinking…but Pastor I’m too old for God’s impressive plan! That’s not true, do you realize that most of the greatest events in the Bible took place in the later part of people’s lives!
5. God’s Immaculate Preservation For Our Lives.
God has perfect and constant watch over us and His preservation over us is without flaw and fault.
Psalm 121: 7,8 “The Lord keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both for now and forever.” NLT
I firmly believe that with every problem we face in life, God gives us a promise to face life with.
2 Corinthians 4:7-9
So we can find a promise and apply it to our problems!
Think of it this way…because you have a reservation in heaven that guarantees your preservation on earth!
3 Reminders:
a. We cannot be carnally minded.
The devil will talk us out of God’s blessings every chance he gets!
b. Patience is paramount.
James 1:4 “But let patience have its perfect work…that you may be perfect and complete…”
Complete = literally, all the portions or parts whole.
c. Buy a promise book.
It will cost you a few bucks and it put into categories for easy reference!
