A Man Who Keeps His Word!

Hi fellow Standers! It's encouragement time again. Here's another devotional written by Bob from Penn. Read on and stay encouraged! "The LORD has kept the promise He made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.” I Kings 8:20 Have you noticed that when God tells His people what is going to happen, things happen just as He said they would? Throughout the Bible, over and over, we see how faithfully everything happens just as He said it would. Before the Last Supper, Jesus gave Peter and John specific instructions and they found things just as He had told them. Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked. He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?' He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there." They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. Luke 22:7-13 God is so faithful that often those who penned His word only tell what He said would happen. We can know for certain if God said it, then that is exactly the way it happened. For example, after Peter was accosted about the temple tax, Jesus made provision for paying it as told in Matthew’s Gospel. After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?" "Yes, He does," he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?" "From others," Peter answered."Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. "But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." Matthew 17:24-27 That is all we are told. We don’t have to be told that Peter went and threw out his line, caught a fish, opened its mouth and found a four-drachma coin. We KNOW it happened just the way Jesus said it would. Imagine if any other person in the world’s history made such an outrageous suggestion as to how to obtain the required money to pay the tax! Would we need to be told whether the suggestion worked out? Of course! But when our Lord makes us a promise, we can be certain it will happen, and it will happen “just as He said.” Unfortunately, I must confess that I sometimes allow circumstances to cause doubt to grow in my heart and mind. That’s when I know I have started to walk by sight rather than by faith. Recently I had a particularly difficult day with difficult interactions. When I was alone again at the end of the day, I cried out to the Lord to help me. Then I took one of my Bibles in hand and asked Him to encourage me and open a passage that would speak to my troubled heart. The Bible fell open to Joshua 21. It is 45 verses long, and most of the verses provide the names of towns that were given to the Levites. As I was reading, my heart began to be disappointed because I could see that this wasn’t the kind of chapter that was going to build me up. Still, I persevered in my reading and the chapter ended with three incredible verses that I want to remember for the rest of my life, verses to remind me of the unfailing and perfect faithfulness of the awesome God that we serve. I hope these verses encourage you as they did me – to stand firm and wait for the fulfillment of every promise that God has given. Without a doubt, every one of His good promises will be fulfilled! "So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled." Joshua 21:43-45