Week 2 – His precious promises

When I think about my high school days filled with homework (aka: angish), I have this vivid mental picture of myself sitting at my dining room table, my head in my hands, tears of frustration blurring Mr. Chitani’s impossible math homework, spread out in front of me like something written in by a Greek sadist. I remember begging my parents or any of my multiple siblings to help me – all of them too clueless or apathetic to even try. But the worst part wasn’t the math itself – it was that feeling of being utterly alone.

 

I think that’s one of the worst feelings – that feeling of alone-ness. Abandonment. Isolation. That idea that we are on our own, left to fend for ourselves in this big, confusing world.

 

That’s the farthest thing from the truth of the Bible, though. The truth is that, for those who are in Christ, we are never alone and never left to our own devices. How do we know this?  Because God promised us.

 

2 Peter 1:4 says that God has given us his very great and precious promises. Today, we’ll look at what those promises are and how they relate to us and our scripture.

 

The Bible is positively teeming with God’s promises, but using the context of our scripture, we can surmise that the promises being referred to are the ones relating to God’s presence as we strive to know and understand Him better.

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness

Psalms 32: 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

 

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of Goda] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  

Romans 8:27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Do you see the running theme in these verses? Our Father promises to always be with us, to never leave us alone, to teach and help us – empowering us to grow and flourish in our understanding and knowledge of Him so that we can continue to grow towards Him like branches of a tree growing toward the sun.  

Is the Bible dense and sometimes confusing? Yes. Is it written in a way we don’t always identify with, given the fact that we live in an Instagram and Big Mac culture, not a sheep-herding culture? Yes. But God promises that He will be our guide, and that He has sent the Holy Spirit to unravel the mystery of Himself so that we might understand and Him to even be participants in his might works. You know what they call that?  Divine power. We have been given divine power! 

 

Just think. Our God has given us divine power that enables us to understand and grasp his truth – making it possible to live out His mighty calling in our own lives. Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever read your Bible and considered that God’s divine power and His very Spirit was with you like a tutor sitting next to you – helping you understand and digest his truth?

 

His very great and precious promises mean that we have His presence and help – and that it goes with us where ever we go. That makes knowing him and living a godly life something that we can actually do! 

 And that’s a promise.