God always keeps his promises. We see time and time again when God makes a promise to his people. In his timing he fulfills his promise. Just because we are in the year 2021 does not mean that God has stopped fulfilling the promises he has made to you, to his church, and to our nation. We need to keep a hold of the promises he has made and keep ourselves from looking at our natural surroundings. Your current situation may make it appear impossible for God to do what he has promised. I assure you God is able and does make impossible things happen. Today and next week I want to take a look at two passages of times when God made a promise, yet it appeared to be impossible for him to make good on his promise. 

God Promises a Son

Genesis 15 tells us about a conversation God had with Abraham, who was called Abram at this time. 

“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭15:1-11‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬

Fear Not, I am Your Shield

The first words God spoke to Abram here is, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” God is telling you right now, “Fear not, I am your shield; your reward will be very great.” The message God gave Abram is the same message he is giving you today. It doesn’t matter what is going on at home, in your job, or even what happens in Washington DC. God promises to be your shield, therefore you have nothing to worry and fret about. God will do what he says. There is nothing that anyone or any demon can do to change that. 

Abram responds with a question for God, “How can my reward be great when I don’t even have a son as an heir?” You see by this time Abram was past the time of having children. He was somewhere between 75-85 years old. We know this because when he was 75 God told him to leave his home and go to an unknown land. He had Ishmael with Hagar at 86 years of age.

Do you find yourself asking God how is it possible to do what I know you have said you are going to do? If so, take heart, there have been plenty of others with the same questions in the past. Just as God did keep his promise with Abram and gave him the promised son, so will he do with you. God will keep his promise, even when it seems impossible. 

God Makes a Covenant

After God assures Abram that he will have a son, God goes through the actions to show Abram he is making a covenant with Abram. He tells Abram to bring the animals, and they are cut in half. This is how covenants were made in those days. It was like writing a legal contract that could not be broken. At the end of verse 11 we read, “…when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.”

The birds of prey came and Abram had to make them go away. I believe this is extremely symbolic. When God makes a promise often the enemy will come to try and destroy it. You see, Satan doesn’t want God to make good on his promises and will do everything in his power to sabotage it. He will put doubts in your mind, he will do the only things he knows how to do: steal, kill, and destroy. He will try to destroy your confidence in the word of the Lord. If that doesn’t work, he will try and steal your joy and peace. He will steal anything he can in order to make you lose trust in God. If that doesn’t work, he will try to kill your God given dreams by making it look like an absolute impossibility. 

When this happens see it for what it is and make the enemy leave. You do that by standing in the authority God has given you through Jesus. You say, “Devil, leave me alone in the name of Jesus.” At the name of Jesus, any demon must leave. They can’t stand up against the name of Jesus. Then start to meditate on the truth God says. Read your Bible, listen to worship music, and read through promises God has given you. Declare the truth out loud so that by hearing it spoken out loud you can believe it, while at the same time you are reminding those demons that you listen only to truth and they must leave you alone. 

Abraham and Sarah Take Matters into Their own Hands

As time passed, Sarah doubted that she could ever give birth to a baby. She still believed God when he said that a nation was going to come from her husband. She just couldn’t see how it was possible that the promised child would come from her womb. After all she was way, way past child bearing years. ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭16:1-2‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)  tells us of a conversation between Sarah (Sarai) and Abraham (Abram), “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.”

This arrangement was not abnormal in those days. It was common that a servant would have a child for the mistress of the home when she could not have her own children. The child would be considered the child of the wife. The decision to proceed with Sarah’s plan would prove to be disastrous. You see, Abraham chose to stop listening to the voice of God and started listening to the voice of his wife. You see, as soon as Hagar, the servant became pregnant, she started treating Sarah badly. “So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt.” Genesis‬ ‭16:4‬ ‭(NLT‬‬)

Wives Must Not Be The Voice of God

Ladies, we can not be the voice of God for our husbands. I’ll say it again, we, as women, can not be the voice of God for our husbands. We have to trust that the Lord will and does talk to our husbands just like he talks to us. Sure, there have been multiple times when I hear direction from God before Brett. That just means that I need to learn patience. I must wait for God to show Brett what he has already shown me. God knows how to speak to Brett much better and clearer than I ever can. I also can not constantly be reprimanding him and telling him what the Bible says about any given subject. I can voice my objection, or opinion, but I must never ever become a nag to my husband, especially when it comes to Biblical issues. 

God’s promise was in fact through the birth of Sarah and Abraham’s son, Isaac. They just needed to be patient, and wait for God’s perfect timing. They needed to listen to the voice of God only, and stand firm in what he told them. 

Likewise, you need to be patient. Wait for God’s perfect timing. He will always keep his promise. It doesn’t matter how impossible it may look. God will do whatever he says he is going to do. Period. 

The Promised Son

As you probably know, God did give Abram the promised son, Isaac. It would be years and years after his conversation with God and the birth of Ishmael. At the age of 100 and 90 Abraham and Sarah were given the fulfillment of the promise God gave them all those years ago. Isaac was the promised son. Even when Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands, and tried to force the promise by their own doing, God didn’t ever waiver from keeping his promise. 

Whatever promise God has made you, or this nation will come to pass. Even if we try to take matters in our own hands to make the promises come about and fail, God will always keep his end of the deal. Don’t lose faith. Keep listening to the voice of God. Stand firm in what he has told you. Most of all remember, God will always keep his promises.