Can We Trust Promises When So Many Are Broken?

How good are you at keeping promises? Some people embrace the motto, ‘My word is my bond.’ We know if they make a promise, they’ll keep it no matter what. Others take a more tentative approach, promising to do something with fingers figuratively crossed behind their backs, thinking, ‘I’ll do it – unless a better option comes along.’

 

For some of us, the thought of promise-making and promise-keeping brings back sad or distressing memories of promises that were made to us and then broken: Wedding vows cast aside. An expected job promotion that never came. A close friend reneging on an important commitment. A parent’s failure to show up for an important school program or ball game.

 

Politicians make promises all the time that they conveniently forget once election day has passed, but we’re used to that. It’s loved ones and people close to us making promises, then not following through, that hurts the most.

 

Do you remember the old hit tune by Dionne Warwick, “Promises, Promises”? Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, it had a lilting melody but offered a rather cynical view of promises. Here are some of the lyrics:

“Promises, promises

I’m all through with promises…

Oh, promises, promises

This is where those promises end…

Oh, promises, their kind of promises, can just destroy a life…

Take all the joy from life….”

 

Since song lyrics often are drawn from personal experience, I wonder what prompted Bacharach and David to put those words to music? No matter, they do express the feelings many of us have – or have once held – regarding promises. When promises are broken, trust also becomes shattered. And one’s integrity suffers a serious blow.

 

This is why the promises we find in the Bible are so important. And there are many of them, from Genesis all the way through Revelation. When we hear God being described in terms like loving, gracious, merciful, unchanging and faithful, the promises in the Scriptures put those divine qualities to the test.

 

If someone were to ask, “What are the promises of God?” we could respond, “Where do we start?” Take for example the Old Testament prophetic book of Isaiah. Singling out just three out of many, we find:

God’s promise of forgiveness and redemption: “’Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isaiah 1:18).

God’s promise of strength when needed: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak…those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:29-31).

God’s promise of His presence and power. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

 

Of course, our trust in someone’s promises grows over time, as they follow through on their commitments and prove their trustworthiness. In the same way, our trust in God’s promises flourishes through our daily experiences with Him. It can’t be learned by reading books, devotionals or columns, or by listening to sermons. 

 

In my case, as I’ve encountered and pondered the Lord’s promises in reading His Word, I’ve also seen His faithfulness in fulfilling them one after another. I could offer many examples, but one stands out in particular.

 

It was in 2006, right after I had been diagnosed as having an aortic aneurysm, along with several arterial blockages. Open-heart surgery was necessary. Since my condition wasn’t an emergency, the procedure was scheduled for two weeks later. That’s a lot of time to ponder undergoing one of the most serious surgeries you can have.

 

After the initial shock of what I had to face began to fade, I did what I’ve learned to do in times of crisis: I opened my Bible and turned to the Psalms, which I’ve always found comforting and reassuring. I read several psalms the first day, put a bookmark where I had been reading, and set the Bible aside.

 

The next morning, still feeling overwhelmed at the thought of going through surgery that would last at least several hours, I again picked up my Bible and turned to where I had stopped the previous day. It was Psalm 41, and the third verse read, “The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.” 

 

I can’t describe the emotions that filled me at that moment, but it was if the words had been printed in neon lights. Like God saying, “This promise is for you.” 

 

Philippians 4:7 talks about “the peace that surpasses all understanding,” and that’s what I experienced that day. The anxiety I had been feeling disappeared. It was one of many “Don’t worry, I’ve got this” moments I’ve had in my walk with the Lord.

 

Knowing God has never failed in keeping the many promises He’s made, that sense of peace prevailed up to and through the day of my surgery. The recovery wasn’t easy, but God was with me every day, true to His word.

 

I’m not a ‘name it and claim it’ guy. I know God doesn’t promise physical healing to everyone in every situation. When we encounter adversity in any of its countless forms, we don’t have a promise from God that the outcome will be exactly what we want. But we do have the promise from Him that, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

 

In a world where broken promises are more the rule than the exception, what a joy and privilege it is to worship a God who never fails to keep His promises.

Navigating a World of Promises – and Broken Promises

“I promise.” “Pinky swear.” “You have my word.” How many times have you heard assurances like these? And how many times in your experience have such promises been violated? There once was a time when people honestly would say their word was their bond. No need for formal contracts or commitments in writing – a promise was solemn and certain. But not anymore, right? 

Where do we start? It’s too easy to pick on politicians, because it seems their job description includes making promises they have no intention of keeping. Reminds me of the old perfume commercial with the slogan, “Promise her anything, but give her Arpege.”

 

But the promises made/promises broken scenario is hardly confined to the so-called “hallowed halls of government.” Whether it’s your neighborhood mechanic, the contractor you’ve chosen to do work on your house, a salesperson you consult about a major purchase, or even longtime friends, we have all known times when they made promises that were never fulfilled.

 

Whenever the issue of broken promises comes to mind, I think of the 1974 song, “Cat’s in the Cradle,” by Harry Chapin. It’s about a little boy asking his dad to play and spend time with him, only to receive empty promises:

"’When you coming home, dad?’ ‘I don't know when.
But we'll get together then,
You know we'll have a good time then.’”

 

“Then” in this song never comes. In fact, the little boy in the song grows up to be just like his dad: a promise maker and a promise breaker.

 

Someone once observed, however, whenever we point a finger at someone, four fingers are pointing back at ourselves. Each of us – probably more times than we’d care to admit – has been the promise breaker. As Jesus told a group of self-righteous religious leaders, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).

 

The earliest time I can remember was as an adolescent, maybe about 10 years old. I was staying at my grandfather’s home on vacation. I’d befriended a boy my age in the neighborhood; I think his name was Billy. He was having a birthday party and I had agreed to come. But I faced a dilemma when a family friend offered to take me to a bookstore and buy me a gift, since my birthday was just a few days away. 

 

Party? Bookstore? Tough choice, but I remember selfishly choosing the bookstore and not even telling Billy I wasn’t coming to his party. I’m sure, if he’s still living, Billy has long since forgotten how I reneged on my promise – but obviously I haven’t. That’s not the only promise I’ve broken during my lifetime, but it’s one I’ll never forget.

 

Here’s the good news: When it comes to broken promises, there’s one exception. The Lord God is the one true, never failing Promise Keeper. In fact, His promises are actually covenants.

 

Promises can be made without any legal obligation or validity. Covenants, however, are legally binding agreements. Even more important, as one writer said, “An unconditional covenant can be defined as a sovereign act of God whereby He unconditionally obligates Himself to bring to pass specific promises, blessings, and conditions for the covenanted people.”

 

For proof of God’s unwavering promises and covenants we can consider the nation of Israel. Historian Barbara Tuchman once observed that Israel is, “the only nation in the world that is governing itself in the same territory, under the same name, and with the same religion and same language as it did 3,000 years ago.”

 

Dating back to Jacob, the son of Isaac whom God later renamed Israel, the Jewish people have miraculously survived 400 years of slavery, the killing of six million Jews during the Holocaust, and myriad other forms of persecution and opposition. The Promised Land, which the Lord gave to the Israelites following their Egyptian captivity and 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, is essentially the same territory occupied by the nation of Israel today.

 

Even better than that, God’s covenant promises are available today to anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus Christ in faith. “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that He has died as a ransom to see them free from the sins committed under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15).

 

The “first covenant” refers to the Ten Commandments and all the other laws God established for the Israelites to obey. Repeatedly, however, they failed to keep these laws, in many cases forgetting or ignoring them completely. Hence a new covenant, one of grace – His unmerited favor – made possible only through Jesus’ atoning, once-and-for-all death on the cross.

 

As 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 declares, “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

 

We need not strive to be “good enough” for God’s love and favor. His acceptance is solely on the basis of faith, not according to the things we do and the things we don’t: “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

Which brings us back to being confident the Lord will never fail to keep His promise to us. Galatians 3:18 states, “For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.” 

Add to that the assurance of Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever,” and we can have complete assurance that while everyone else we know – including ourselves – breaks promises, God never will.