28 February | Youth
«And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.» Joshua 23:14
A few years ago, at the sundown worship at home, my son Rafael surprised everyone by taking my wallet and saying: “Dad, can we read the promise box today?” It was difficult to continue without having a good laugh. To complete our youngest child’s “show”, when mentioning his favorite verse, he said: “You will get a toy and you will play with it.” I confess that I did not even manage to give him a scolding, he was so creative! But I had to explain that that promise was not in the Bible, much less fit in my wallet.
The Bible is full of promises made by our Father in Heaven. He never tires of loving and making us happy. Some say that there are around 7,500 promises in the holy book. Each one is a declaration of love and a reminder that we are not helpless at this point in the Universe.
Do you know God’s promises? Do you usually memorize them? Over the centuries, they have transformed millions of lives. Like vitamins for the soul, divine promises have encouraged the shy, comforted the sad, and offered hope to the lost. I like the text in Numbers 23:19: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
It may be that you are discouraged with life, sad about what is happening at home, school, or work. Know that there is a loving Father who takes care of you. Look at the Lord’s promises!
I remember an American man named Garth who, at the age of forty-four, was diagnosed with cancer, already in the metastasis stage. Doctors gave him just an 8% chance of living another five years. Garth’s biggest fear, however, was not seeing his daughter Emma graduate from high school. So, he started writing notes on napkins and putting them in his daughter’s lunch box.
Over the next few years, Garth wrote 826 messages and gave them to Emma, as promises of eternal love.
This is a pale idea of what God does for you too. He left beautiful promises, written with love, tears and blood.