Bound By A Promise
The speaker at a woman’s conference was lecturing on the institution of marriage and asked the audience how many of them had ever wanted to “mother” their husbands. One hand went up in the back row, apparently the only honest gal in the entire auditorium. “You mean you really want to mother your husband?” the speaker asked. “Mother?” the woman replied, “I thought you said ‘smother?’”
A reporter once asked Ruth Graham if the thought of her divorcing her husband Billy ever crossed her mind.” Ruth Graham responded, “No, never has the thought of divorce ever crossed my mind. Murder yes, but never divorce.”
A Protestant young man was to marry a Catholic gal. They met with her priest to sign the pre-wedding ceremony papers. While filling out one of the forms, the young man read aloud a few questions. The last question read, “Are you entering this marriage at your own will? Before he could write his answer, his fiancé instructed, “Put down ‘yes.’”
Perhaps you have heard of one man named Scotty Wolfe, who lived in Redlands, California. His claim to fame is that he holds the Guinness Book of Records title as the most-married man having been married to 29 different women. His shortest marriage was 19 days. He left one of his wives because she ate sunflower seeds in bed, and divorced another because she had used his toothbrush. His last wife, Linda Essex-Wolfe, to whom he had been married for the longest at nearly 11 years had been married 23 times previously herseslf. She once commented, “He was a charmer. He married a lot of beautiful women, a lot of young women.” Ironically after their wedding she was unwilling to leave her hometown in Indiana and he didn’t like the cold so he continued to live in Southern California.
Even more ironic was the fact that when Glynn “Scotty” Wolfe died at age 88 in a nursing home, no one came to claim his body so he was cremated and buried in a collective grave. Married 29 times, yet he died alone.
What’s in a promise? Is there anything in a vow, a promise, an agreement? Are the words of promise empty and void of anything meaningful and lasting? It seems that way.
For Christians, promises are embedded in the idea of covenant. Once upon a time, a long, long ago a desert nomad hears the voice of God calling him to leave Ur of the Chaldees and move his family and future to another land that this God would show him. This God told him, “Don’t be afraid Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. You will be the father of many nations. Great will be your progeny.” But Abram complains, “How can this be? You have given me no children, and a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the Lord come to Abram: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” God then invites Abram out from his tent into the night and says, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars if indeed you can count them.” Then this God, that Abram has just met, made a promise to Abram, “so shall your offspring be.”
In verse 6 we read that Abram believed the Lord and it was counted as righteousness to him. Interesting to note even in Abram’s belief he had a very normal question that we see in verse 8, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it.” What follows in verse 9 and following is one of the ways the Ancient Near Easterners ratified a contract, an agreement. They would take an animal, kill it, cut it in half and each party would walk between the halves thereby “sealing the deal” and ratifying the agreement.
In almost all contractual agreements there is some ceremony involved. Today we hold gala wedding events to solemnize the agreement of 2 people to wed. By the way, that is one man and one woman, just in cast you are wondering. We hold ceremonies for our elected officials who enter agreements to be in leadership. In days gone by people would make a promise and enter a contract by giving a daughter to be married to the other person. There might be an exchange or giving of some dowry.
Today when we enter into contracts and agreements, we have the ceremonial signing of all the necessary paperwork. In our litigious world today that means signing many papers with lots and lots of very fine print. Buying a house and securing a mortgage is a contractual agreement, a promise. So is buying a car. And did you know that every time you swipe your credit card you are entering an agreement, a contract? The ceremony for that contract is the swiping!
So back to Genesis. The promise made between Abram and God were similar to the normal everyday agreements made by everyday people. The difference here is that God is involved and this God, the Living God, whose name is Yahweh, actually enters into an agreement, a contract with a man. God commits himself to a promise. God actually makes a promise to a man! Unheard of in the ancient world! To ‘seal the deal’ Abram walks between the 2 halves of the heifer and the goat. In verse 17 God, as a blazing torch or firepot passes between the 2 halves of the animals. God has entered into a promise with Abram. Abram would do his part and God would do his part.
An agreement between 2 people is a contract. An agreement between God and us and us and God is called a covenant. It is a covenant because it is holy and it is holy because it is unique and different from all the other human contracts and agreements. Genesis 15 describes God’s covenant with Abraham. God made a covenant with Moses and the Israelites. In Jesus God has made a covenant with us; and when we accept Christ as our Savior we enter into this covenant agreement in much the same way that Abraham did thousands of years ago.
Today the 3 most common covenants that Christians enter into are the covenants of marriage, baptism, and church membership. These are promises that we make to God. Ceremonies of baptism whether sprinkling, pouring or dunking are promises made, entering into an agreement with God. Each person makes a promise and God makes a promise. We as a church make a promise. Marriage is a covenant and each man and woman is promising “to love and to cherish till death do us part.” Entering into membership is a covenant promise between a person and a church, a body of Christ. The person makes promises as does the church. These are agreements between God and us and us and God.
In the ancient world there were consequences if a promise was not kept. In our world there are consequences if a promise is not kept. Your car gets repossessed. You enter into foreclosure. You get charged a late fee. You are served with a warrant.
What happens when you don’t keep your promises to God? Oh how lightly we take our promises today, especially our promises to God. As the song says, “He’ll always say, “I forgive.” I wouldn’t count on that.
Our character is forged and our character is revealed by the promises we make and the promises we keep, or don’t make or don’t keep. “I promise to take this man/this woman…to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health till death do us part.” “I promise to defend the laws of the United States of America….” ”I promise to be a faithful member of this church and to uphold it with my prayers, my presence, my gifts and my service.” “I promise to raise my child with Christian values and to faithfully bring my child to church with me.” How are you treating the promises that you made—to God and to one another? What kind of Christian witness are you in keeping your promises? We put a lot of stipulations, escape clauses, and fine print in our covenants with God, don’t we?
Bound by a promise. A promise from God and God was faithful to that promise. Today the physical heirs of Abraham number in the millions and the spiritual heirs number in the tens of millions, maybe even hundreds of millions. Character is forged by the promises we make and the promises we keep. God never makes a promise that He doesn’t keep.
Some years ago, the Upper Room devotional booklet carried the story of Sue Heil whose only son Steven, graduated from high school on sunny June morning and was killed that night in an auto accident. Only hours before Sue had given thanks to God for Steven’s life, and asking God to take care of him. Ever do that for your own kids? How then could God allow this to happen? In the days following the funeral Sue was often angry at God and she was sorely disappointed that God failed her. She often cried out, “You are supposed to be near the broken hearted. Do you even care?” One day a card came from one of Sue’s friends. It read, “When God conceals His purposes, keep living on His promises.” Sue said that it was as if God were saying to her, “Let go of your anger and trust me again. You do not know why things happen, but you do have my promise of eternal life.”
Promises. You can tell a lot about a person by how he/she treats the promises they make. There is something sacred about promises, especially those made to our God. Character is forged and character is revealed by the promises we make and the promises we keep. God never makes a promise that He doesn’t keep.
Some of us need to hear the words that strengthened Sue Heil that day, “When God conceals His purposes, keep living on the promises.”