Over the past few, since about December of last year, I’ve been reevaluating my life in regards to where I’m at and where I believe God has promised he is taking my wife and I. And to be real and honest, I’ve had a lot of questions for God. There are things that I thought by the age of 22 I would’ve, with the help of God, already accomplished by now. I’m a very ambitious person. Perhaps, somewhat overly ambitious. I truly believe Philippians 4:13 that I can do ALL things through Christ. It’s not just a childhood cliché verse to me. So although I’m only 22, there are things I’ve been asking God to accomplish quickly so that Kristin and I could move on to even greater things. At some point or another, we all face thoughtful moments like this.
And this got me to thinking, what do you do when step back and take a survey of your life only to realize that your dreams, your goals, your purpose, and most importantly, your promises from God seem to be at best only partially fulfilled? In II Kings 4:8-37 it talks about a Shunamite woman who was promised a son in a prophecy from Elijah. The promise came to pass, and she gave birth to a son. However, one day he was out in the field and became ill. Later that day, he died on the lap of the Shunamite woman. Her promise from God died in her lap. He was later brought back to life, yet I can’t help but wonder what was running through her mind while her promise was dead…in her lap.
God has made some profound promises in His book. And if you’re a believer, you SHOULD bank on all the promises in His Word. But what do you do when you take inventory of your life and see that those promises are at best only partially fulfilled? My whole life, I’ve fully believe that Jesus is the healer. However, not even 2 weeks ago, my mom’s best friend, a pastor’s wife, died of Leukemia. She was 45. All during the battle with her illness, we were believing for God to bring healing. And make no mistake about it, I don’t regret believing for her healing. After she passed, I was thinking, “God what about your promises? What about your healing? I mean, what about all of that?” What do you do? I know God is a good God. But how do we handle the theological conundrum when someone dies who lived their entire life believing that God could heal cancer? And it’s not just with healing; it’s with any promise from God.
What do you do in your own life when the promises seem to be lacking? God, how does this work? Hebrews 11:13 says, “These all died in faith not having received the promises.” So, if you’re living with unfulfilled promises, or even worse, partially fulfilled promises….you’re in good company.
As I was sitting in my office a few days ago questioning where all the promises were in my life, He led me to II Corinthians 1:20 where it says, “In HIM all the promises are YES and AMEN.” To quote Jack Hayford, Jesus is the sum and substance of all of God’s promises because He is both the fulfiller and the fulfillment.
So, this prompts a simple question – when did Jesus become not enough? When did Jesus become insufficient? We’ve got it all wrong. We think, “God where’s the promises? I don’t have a house, I don’t have the money.” It’s fine to have a house and money, but it’s not about the house. It’s not about the money. You can be a good steward, but when was Jesus not enough? He is the pinnacle of our existence.
So today, if you’re tempted to say “I don’t have this. I don’t have that. I’ll never accomplish this dream. I’ll never complete that goal. I wish I had a purpose…” STOP. In Him, ALL the promises of God point us to Jesus. He’s everything you need. When did we get into this thought that we lack anything? I lack no good thing. Because everything I need, comes from Him. Jesus IS the PROMISE.
