THE PROMISE

 

OCTOBER 13

THE PROMISE
And even to your old age I am he; and
  even to hoar hairs will I carry you:
  I have made, and I will bear;
  even I will carry, and will deliver you.
                              Isaiah 46:4
 

The friends of your youth are gone,
  death or distance has stripped you of them.
But your God says,
"I am he who formed you at first, 

   as a creature;
I am he who called you by my grace, 

    into fellowship with my Son;
I am he who gave you my Word, 

  that I would never leave you nor forsake you; and
I am in the same mind still.
I am immutable, there is no change in me.
You have changed, I have not. 

You will change, but I shall not."
 

"I will be your God throughout your lifetime,
 until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
I will carry you along and save you!"
 

Your God will not only carry your burdens, 

  but he will carry YOU.
He laid you like a lamb in his bosom,
 when he called you by his grace; and
 he will carry you now you are old;
 he will never turn away from doing you good,
 but will rejoice over you to do you good,
 with his whole heart, and with his whole soul.
 

He will bear with you, 

 though you may sometimes feel 

    fretful, peevish, and ungrateful.
He will be with you amidst all your infirmities.
He will carry you, not only to the Jordan,

  but over it!
He has delivered you in six troubles,

   and in seven he will not forsake you!
 

You should look back to past deliverances,
and then face your present difficulty,
saying with David, 

"The Lord, who has delivered me out of 

  the mouth of the lion, and out of 

  the mouth of the bear,  

  will yet deliver me also from 

     this uncircumcised Philistine!"
Or with Paul, 

"He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, 

    and he will deliver us. 

On him we have set our hope that 

    he will continue to deliver us!" 

God's promise — is your property. 

Take it, trust it, plead it, and expect it 

  to be made good. 

Faithful is he who promised, 

  who also will do it. 

Even though you believe not, 

   yet he abides faithful; 

   for he cannot deny himself.

God is not a man, that he should lie;
neither the son of man, that he should repent:
hath he said, and shall he not do it? or
hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 
                                                Numbers 23:19

JAMES SMITH 1869