How Will I Know?

When God told Abram (before his name changed) that He was going to give Him land as his possession (Gen 15: 7), his first question to God was, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?” (Gen 15:8‬ ‭NLT)‬‬. Was this ever you – asking God how will you know what He promised will happen? I’ve been there… maybe too many times, but I’ve certainly asked God this question while waiting on Him to deliver on His Word.

We’ve all had promises made to us at some point in our lives; we’ve all had some promises broken too – no wonder when it comes to believing God for something, our human tendencies cause us to wonder if God will truly keep His Word. Our minds become wrapped in our own limits and we pull God into our limitations wondering what if we didn’t hear Him right to begin with or what if He changed His mind about fulfilling the promise. Thinking it too good to be true and tired of waiting, we allow doubt and unbelief to gain control of our thoughts… we allow external sources to alter what we initially received from God and avidly, we start working on Plan B in the event that God’s Plan A doesn’t work out – either on time or any at all.

After God’s promise to give Abram a son of his own, Sarai’s suggestion (her Plan B) convinced Abram to manifest the promise through her Egyptian servant girl. We do similar actions like this all the time – but what I’ve learnt is that our Plan B’s will always divert us away from God’s ultimate plan for our lives – Plan B’s create unnecessary responsibilities for us down the road.

What about those times when we laugh at the thought of God fulfilling a promise when the ‘procedures’ for things were ‘outside the norm’- been there, done that… thinking to myself well… since this is the standard way things are done and my situation isn’t this way then I might as well forget about this promise, end of discussion! Sarai had a similar reaction when she overheard Abram talking to God that they would have a son. She laughed and even denied that she did (Gen 18: 13-15). What is profound to me is that even after she did this – God still kept His promise! He never changed His mind because she doubted and when afraid lied about it- this is the same God who keeps His promises to us. He’ll never change His mind about something He promised us even when we become afraid and disbelieve.

So how do I know? Sometimes I ‘feel’ like I don’t- but I do what I must to keep my faith strong and believe that God cannot lie – He will keep His Word to me! You can know too by changing how you ‘feel’ and by choosing to believe what God has promised you- ponder it in your heart until it manifests! Believe that what God says He will do! Even if He doesn’t give you signs of what’s to come, even if His promise seems impossible like Abram and Sarai’s old age promise to have a child, even if you doubt and laugh in your heart at the thought of your promise being fulfilled- know that the God of Creation will never turn His back on a promise to you! Is anything too hard for the Lord?