“I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. Exodus 23:31
As parents we make promises. Our kids minds are like bear traps for those promises. So on the fifth or five hundredth time asking for what they want, they, with gentle eyes and tender tones say “but you promised”. Promises are commitments we make. Promises are tied to our word and our character, that what we have said will be done. Promise are made to be kept. God is a promise maker and a promise keeper.
Yet, promises have boundary lines. As the Lord was delivering the law to the children of Israel, he also outlined the borders of the land that they would inherit. From Red Sea to Mediterranean Sea, from the desert to the Euphrates River, that was the land. It was a great land, full of promise as promised by God, but the lines were drawn. Even within that land the Lord marked out lands for each of the tribes of Jacob.
Where I think we get in trouble with God is calling God on a promise that was never given to us. In my days at Lee University, there was a young preacher in search of his bride. Girl after girl, he approached with the same message: “The Lord told me you were to be my wife.” This young man burned through girlfriends like me and buddy consumed Papa John’s pizza on a Friday night. Neither lasted very long. I am uncertain what voice this young man was hearing, but each of his presumed promises that never seem to stick were in truth outside the lines God had drawn for his life. I think he eventually married, but not before trying to take on promises that were never his to partake of.
I think sometimes we get promise envy. We see the greener grass of someone else’s promise land. We get a taste of their honey and grapes and think it is better tasting than our own vineyards and bees produce. What has to be kept in mind is that is their promise. God has measured and marked out the promises for our lives and we are to live within those.
God has promises for you. God has plans for you. God has great things for your life. All these are true, but they exist within the boundary lines of the promises God has laid out for me. I have a love of music. I think in music. I learn in music. I am horrible at playing a musical instrument. I tried to learn the guitar. I had now Grammy award winning music producer as a guitar instructor in college. He eventually looked at me and said “this may not be for you”. And he was write, because of my love for music had I been any good, I would have been living with 7 guys in 1 bedroom apartment in LoBro Nashville still eating Ramen off the $3 of tips thrown in my guitar case. I have a promise of being behind a microphone, but not as a Nashville star. My promise is as communicator. Those are the lines God has drawn for my life. To chase a musical promise would be to step outside the boundary of my life.
So be content in the promise God has given you. Live there, thrive there, because in the land of that promise is his purpose for you in the plan of his Kingdom.
So be content in the promise God has given you. Live there, thrive there, because in the land of that promise is his purpose for you in the plan of his Kingdom.
