The Promise of God
Spring 2025
Years ago, my dear mother gave me a very special copy of C.H. Spurgeon’s Faith’s Checkbook, a hardback published by Moody Press and a wedding gift to my parents in 1956. When I first opened the book, I was struck with its instructive preface where Spurgeon teaches his readers how to claim the promises of God by comparing the promise to cashing a check. Spurgeon said we should not just read the promise and be done with it but rather value it as one would value a check. Just as a person endorses a check showing that the cash represented by the check is hers, so a Christian personally by faith takes that promise to the Lord in prayer.
Spurgeon says that if the promise is presented at the fulfillment date, the Lord will answer right away, but if the date is farther on, we must wait for it. Second, the manner of presenting the check is important: it must be presented to the Lord by faith and “in a common sense, business-like” way. Having never been taught before how to intentionally bring a promise to the Lord in prayer, I was delighted both for my mother gifting the book to me and for the godly instruction from God’s servant. How simple yet how transformative are God’s promises in our lives as Christian women!
God’s promises have brought bright hope and comfort to God’s people throughout the ages. Eve hoped that the manchild born to her would be the Savior promised in Genesis 3:15. God gave Abraham covenant promises and aged Sarah the promise of a son. Moses received promises from the Lord when God called him to stand before Pharaoh: God would be with him, help him speak, and give him power. Through the wilderness wanderings, the crossing of Jordan, the conquering of Canaan, and the history of Israel, God gave encouraging promises to strengthen His servants. Many promises of comfort and provision are found in the Psalms.
Embedded in Israelite history and the prophetic writings were promises of the coming Messiah who would save His people from their sins. Even though God gave no new word from the end of Malachi until the angel visited Zacharias and Mary, godly sincere Israelites looked for the coming Messiah. Matthew’s gospel especially records events in Christ’s life which had been prophesied “that it (the prophecy or promise) might be fulfilled.” The earthly life of Christ manifested the fulfillment of those Old Testament prophecies, and He “established the better covenant…upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). The promise of the coming Holy Spirit, recorded in the Gospels, was fulfilled in Acts. John reminds us that eternal life is the promise of God to us (1 John 2:25). Paul teaches us that “all the promises of God in Christ are yea and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:20) while Peter tells us that the promises of God are “exceeding great and precious” (2 Peter 1:4). Spurgeon himself knew God’s help and faithfulness through severe pain and deep controversy. He testified that the Scripture promises grow ever more precious with the passing years!
Just as God’s people have depended upon His promises to see them through ordinary days as well as through surprising and turbulent times, so must we Christian women. Living by faith rather than by feelings means relying on the promises of God daily. As we read the Bible and come to a promise, Spurgeon advises us to tarry over it, rest upon it, take it as spoken especially to us, and ask the Lord to fulfill it personally for us. My dear sisters-in-Christ, are you intentionally depending on the promises of God for your daily living? Can you testify to special promises fulfilled in your life? The instruction in Spurgeon’s preface changed my life because I more seriously brought God and His Word into my life and the difficulties I faced. Thankfully, God’s promises are timeless because they come from our immutable God.
God has given each of us a path of life, following our Savior in obedience whether as a daughter, a mother caring for her children and managing her home, a working woman, an older woman, or an ill woman. Too often we find ourselves distracted from following closely on the path God has set before us, but the Lord has provided promises to guide us. Proverbs 3:5-6 provided boundaries to keep me in the path when burdens, distractions, or temptations intruded in my life. The Lord taught me to pray each phrase of Proverbs 3:5-6 while applying it to my own situation. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart” became my prayer, “I trust You completely with this problem. “Lean not unto thine own understanding” led me to pray, “Lord, I cannot solve this problem at all.” To acknowledge the Lord, I affirmed that God sees and understands the whole matter; He is sovereign and has ordered it for my good and for His glory. How comforting and relieving to read the promise that God will direct my paths. Whatever I was supposed to be doing in that moment was brought back into focus because the problem had been given to the Lord.
Reading Faith’s Checkbook this year again is like re-visiting old friends! Truly, the promises of God are precious! Each one that we personally prove true reinforces our faith, hope, and trust in our eternal God. When the trials of life surprise us, let us not escape, become distracted, tune out, or buffer with food or shopping; rather let us seek the Lord with a promise and watch Him work in both the problem and in us for His glory and our good.