We have a friend who is a wonderful silversmith. Several years ago he made me a ring and a pendant. Before he finished the pendant he asked me what my favorite Bible verse was. I told him Numbers 23:19. When I received the pendant and the ring in the mail he had inscribed the back of the pendant with Numbers 23:19. A constant reminder.
This morning I needed to be reminded again of that verse.
“God is not a human who lies or a mortal who changes his mind.
When he says something, he will do it; when he makes a promise, he will fulfill it.” Numbers 23:19 CJB
I needed to remember that! When God makes a promise He always keeps it. He doesn’t lie – He can’t lie!! If God ever lied he would no longer be perfect and so He would no longer be God.
Every page of the Bible is filled with promise. God gave His word so we would know His purpose and plan for us. He wants us to depend on him.
A few weeks back I told you about the friendship that Abraham and God shared. God made him a promise that he would have a son. Then when Isaac was about 12 or 13 the Lord asked Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice.
Abraham got up early in the morning and started his travel to the land of Moriah. It was a three day journey. It was Abraham, Isaac, and his servants. Isaac saw the wood and the fire needed for making the sacrifice but there was no lamb. So Isaac asked his father about it. Here is Abraham’s answer.
“7-8 Isaac said, “Father, we have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”
“My son,” Abraham answered, “God will provide the lamb.” Genesis 22:7-8 CEV
Abraham had every confidence in the Lord. The Lord had blessed him with a son and so he could trust the Lord with his son’s life. God doesn’t lie and He keeps his promise.
When they got to the place on the mountain where they were to build the altar Abraham laid the wood and then he placed his son on it. Here is what God said:
“ But the Lord’s angel shouted from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.
12 “Don’t hurt the boy or harm him in any way!” the angel said. “Now I know that you truly obey God, because you were willing to offer him your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the bushes. So he took the ram and sacrificed it in place of his son.
14 Abraham named that place “The Lord Will Provide.” Genesis 22:11-14 CEV
That was an extreme situation but Abraham knew he was serving a God who always provides.
King David said in Psalm 23 that the Lord provides so much that “my cup runs over”.
The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4 that God supplies all he needed.
Jesus said in John 10 that He came to give us abundant life, life that is overflowing.
Oh yes, all these promises came flooding in today when I began to focus on that one verse, Numbers 23:19. It is impossible for God to lie and since that is true all the rest of God’s Word is true as well.
Have you began to doubt that God is going to keep a promise He made to you? It seems it has taken so long and you’re getting weary during the wait. Hold on! God doesn’t lie.
God will provide!