A Promise is A Promise

 

I attend Hill Song LA in downtown Los Angeles, and the past two weeks of services have been AHmazing! The worship at Hill Song always leave me overfilled with the goodness and glory of God, but the last few weeks, it has been the sermons that left me at peace and reassured.

Pastor Tim Douglas from the Melbourne campus in Australia, came to preach the message ‘Here I Am’. He spoke from Genesis 22:1-14 and James 1:2-4. I encourage you to read those scriptures on your own.

Pastor Tim, shared with the congregation an interesting habit that he has. When he has somewhere to go, he will put the destination’s address in the GPS –but here’s the thing -whatever the estimated time of arrival is, he’ll try his best to beat that time to his destination. He strives to get there quicker. He shared that he will deviate from the map’s guide and take his own route to get where he is going. He admitted that he often finds himself lost, and more times than not, it takes him longer to reach to his destination. He went on to say that many of us are like that in our lives. We try to find alternative routes to our destiny. Quicker routes. Easier routes. We try to reach our dreams, desires and God ‘s promises, sooner than later. We try to avoid the uncomfortable paths that God may takes us on. But the road God takes us on is purposeful. That road possesses the skills, lessons, and character traits God is trying to teach us and instill in us. That road carries with it the tools we need to be successful once we reach our destination. God’s path also avoids certain pitfalls and mishaps He hasn’t graced us to endure.

Like Sarah and Abraham in Genesis, we hear the promise clearly, but because of what we perceive as a delay (which is actually God’s perfect timing), we take matters into our own hands. And like Sarah and Abraham, our way only causes more problems in our lives and unfortunately it doesn’t influence the timing of the promise or force God’s hand. (see Genesis 16: 1- 16)

Ultimately deviating from God ‘s plan and following our own paths causes us to take a longer route to get to where God promised He would take us.

To be honest, this message hit home because I am guilty of this. I am guilty of hearing God clearly, hearing the promise clearly, experiencing initial excitement but my excitement and belief fizzling away as time goes on. I am guilty of getting in God’s way and trying to manifest His promise for myself. And just like Abraham and Sarah, I have experienced the pain and disappointment of my actions and my disbelief.

But I was encouraged and reassured by Pastor Tim’s message. If God said it, He will do it and He doesn’t need my help to manifest His promises in my life. Also, God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). If He promised that He will do it, it is simply my duty to be still and know that He is the Great I Am (Psalm 46:10).

I hope this blesses you as much as it blessed me.

With tons of love,

XOXO

Olayinka