Promises are made to be broken?

"Promise Maker, Promise Keeper; you finish what you begin!" That's how a song by Kristian Stanfill called "Lord our God" starts. It helped direct me to a better answer to a question I had posited to some friends of mine a few nights ago. We were talking about the normal dialogue that arises almost every time we meet a new person and how we first almost always ask (or are asked) something along the lines of, "So, what do you do?"

In the sense that this question is inquisitive of a person's job I find it to be deeply troubling because we tend to equate it in some degree to the value of the person being asked. A person's worth does not come from the worldly position they hold! God is not partial that He would value an engineer over a janitor. However, if by asking what a person does we are speaking of the promises they make and keep we come much closer to finding out who they are. Indeed, I suggested that a good question to ask a person upon first meeting them would be, "Who are you?" So think about that. Who would you say you are?



A good defining answer (at least for the Christian) could be "a son/daughter of God" or "a new creation in Christ." Still, this answer is a bit ambiguous unless it reveals the character of the God that fathered and created us. God's character is revealed through promise keeping and promise making. I am reminded of Sanctus Real's song called 'Promises' in which we are admonished to "Just hold on to the promises [of God]" because "neither life, nor death could separate us from the eternal love of our God who made us!"

God's word is not weak that He would break it. As Numbers 23:19 proclaims:

God is not man, that he should lie,
    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

God's word is His bond. So what does He promise to those who love Him? He promises to provide for our every need (Phil. 4:19); that His grace is sufficient for our salvation (2 Cor. 12:9); that He will never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5); that all things work for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). He also promises judgment for all who should deny Him (Numbers 14:22-23).


When He makes a promise, He binds Himself to the premise that nothing is more important than His word. Not even His life. The cross is our evidence that God does not simply make promises to us, but that He keeps them, though it cost Him all He has. How about you? Can you say with confidence who you are by the promises you make and keep?