The Promise Draws Near

Daily Reading: Acts 7

But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt. (Acts 7.17)

Devotional Thought: Stephen was in trouble.  Arrested for preaching Jesus and the resurrection, he was called before the Jewish ruling council to give an account of his activities.  Instead of defending himself, however, Stephen gave a history lesson to these Jewish scholars. 

Stephen's lesson included an exposition of how God fulfills his promises. God works beneath the surface, preparing the way for the fulfillment.  As you think about the promises of God for you, remember these things:

·       The Promise is fulfilled on God’s time schedule.  God’s calendar is different from our own.  We often get in a hurry because we see things from the perspective of our 70- or 80-year life spans.  God has eternity to work things out.  A thousand years are as only a day with the Lord.

·       The Promise is sure because it is from God.  Stephen asserted something very important about the promise: God granted it!  When God makes a promise, you can take it to the bank.  His character depends upon it, so he will fulfill it. 

·       The Promise will be fulfilled after God puts all things in place.  God wants to make sure that everything is ready before he finishes the job.  Before he granted the promise to Abraham’s descendents, “the people increased and multiplied in Egypt.”  God is like that with you, too.  He wants to make sure that you are ready for the fulfillment of his promises.  He is even now putting things in place, increasing and multiplying your ability to enjoy the promise.

Are you waiting for a promise from God to be fulfilled?  Don’t give up.  He will work it all out!

Prayer: Forgive me, Lord, for my impatience and for my lack of faith.  Help me to wait upon you and have my strength renewed.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 73.12-20

12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.

14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.

15 If I had said, “I will speak thus, ”I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,

17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.

19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!

20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.