There have been a few times in my life where God has given me a particular promise for a situation or circumstance in my life. Lately, I have been thinking about the promises of God and why he will sometimes give me a promise over a particular situation. There have been many times where I have doubted his promises or where I have somehow led myself to believe that I have somehow made up a promise in my head just because the current situation seemed unchangeable or impossible for anyone to turn around. When God gave the Israelites the promise to take them out of Egypt and bring them into the land he had promised their forefathers, the Israelites did not listen. They were so deeply discouraged with their circumstance that they in some way chose to ignore the truth of what God was speaking into them. Because they chose to ignore the truth due to their circumstance, they continued for a while to live in helplessness.

There have been times were I too chose to ignore God’s truth because of the circumstances surrounding me. Even though I know that God’s words are truth, there are still areas in my life right now where I am still choosing to only believe God when the promise comes to pass. I have been waiting on several promises in the past. Some have been fulfilled while others I am still waiting on. Because I have been waiting for a while for some of these promises to pass, and have been discouraged over time, I have unintentionally chosen to believe once that promise has become visible. It almost feels like the discouragement and disappointment that I have had for so long has taught me that believing in God’s promises may lead to disappointment. As a way to protect myself from further disappointment, it has made sense to only believe when I see.

A promise is meant to bring hope rather than unbelief. When God brings a promise in any given situation, he is doing so to remind me that here is a way out of that particular situation. There is nothing that God absolutely cannot do. This is the lesson I have to learn while I wait on the promise. Whenever I think that something might be impossible for him, I only need to remember what he did for the Israelites. He parted the sea so that they could escape from their enemies. I am so very precious to him that he would do anything it takes to deliver me from anything that could possibly hold me back in life. Because of this truth, I have to run with the freedom he has given me. He has and he will remove anything that stands in my way for his name sake. When I choose to believe his truth about who I am, only then I will take hold of his promises and not doubt his words. When I have the truth solidified in my heart, I will not be discouraged or disheartened.

Dear God,

“Help me to choose to believe you even when my current situation seems impossible to turn around. Help me to choose faith over fear, and help me to know who you are in the light of any adversity I might ever face in life.

Amen“