She broke her promise. She vowed to love, respect, and stay faithful to her husband — for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, till death parted them. But she was enticed by an immoral man, and after the first, others like him. Her unfaithfulness became a habit, and her habit a lifestyle. Her husband pleaded with her, ardently sought to draw her back, and reminded her of her vows. More importantly, he reminded her of his vows, vows to be faithful, vows that he would never violate, no matter what.

This story is true. It gets rehearsed repeatedly by the prophets of Israel and Judah as they compare God’s covenant-people with a woman who broke her vows despite the relentless fidelity of her husband (e.g., Hosea 2; Ezekiel 16).

God is a God who keeps his promises. Promise keeping is one of the most important themes in the Bible. God makes a promise and God keeps the promise he made. In fact, this theme is so prominent that one way to organize the entire Bible is around the theme of promise keeping.

Solemn promises in the Bible are referred to as covenants. Ponder for a moment what it means for the Creator of the Universe to bind himself to a covenant. When God enters a covenant, what he promises to do becomes an inviolable oath that is guaranteed by his own unchangeable character and his inability to lie. There were smaller covenants “cut” in the Old Testament — that is how covenant-making is described in Hebrew — but God cut major covenants during the lifetimes of Noah, Abraham, Moses and David. And then he promised that in the future he would cut an even better covenant, a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The New Testament is insistent that all these covenants find their ultimate fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus.

For a Christian, the fact that God has been and continues to be faithful to his promises impacts many areas of life, both large and small. For example, in 2 Corinthians 1:18-20, we encounter the Apostle Paul reacting to the accusation that he wavered in his intention to visit the Corinthians. “Was I vacillating…? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’ at the same time?” (2 Corinthians 1:17). His response: Absolutely not…and let me tell you why. The God who is faithful to keep his promises has fulfilled all the promises he made in Christ (1:18-20). Paul puts it powerfully: “in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.”

Yes! In Christ we have been bound to this covenant-keeping God! So if we make a God-honoring promise and keep it — whether to complete a promised task, or to spend more time with our children, or to remain faithful to the spouse of our young adulthood, or to follow Christ — we broadcast to those around us something about the character of a God who fulfilled all his covenants by sending Christ. We get to share in God’s promise-keeping agenda, since all the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ.

This post was originally published as devotional #20 in my book: .

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