Holding on to God’s Promises

The disciples said to him, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?” Matthew 15:33

The disciples still thought this way after they saw Jesus healed the blind, the deformed, the lame and the mute. They were still caught in denial after they witnessed the miracles of Jesus. By this time they had already been privy to Jesus turning water into wine, walking on water, feeding a crowd of 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, exorcising a demon possessed man and raising a dead young girl to life. 

We too can get hopeless when we are faced with sickness, and so many other desperate situations. It’s like all we see is that we are helpless in the face of it. 

I have pulmonary hypertension and I am on oxygen 24/7. When I read about my condition it says that there is no cure and life expectancy is about two years. I have no problem about leaving this earth sooner rather than later but there are many people I care about who care about me. So instead of reading about my condition, I concentrate on what God says about it. I printed His words and taped it on my wall and I read it every day. 

In Jeremiah 17:14, we can confess with the prophet, “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise." I repeat, “Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you…"  from Exodus 23:25. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.... I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,” God Himself reassures us in Isaiah 41:10 and Jeremiah 30:17. And my particular favorite: “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today...The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

Whatever our “hopeless and desperate” situation, we need to find God’s promises and declare them aloud. Faith comes from hearing the word of God, St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans (10:17). In the Bible there are more than 7,000 promises of God, and for sure there is a specific promise we can claim for our challenge, whether it is about money, a loved one, health, or needing guidance. We just need to find it, claim it, and be assured that God will stand by His word.