Daily Devotional | Hoping in the Promise Keeper

In her song, “Faithful God,” Laura Story magnifies the Lord’s trustworthiness: “For you are the love that never leaves / The friend that won’t deceive / You’re the one sure thing / Faithful God, every promise kept / Every need You’ve met, faithful God. / All I am and all I’ll ever be / Is all because You love faithfully / Faithful God.”

Unlike worldly hope—which can be mere wishful thinking—godly hope is grounded in God’s absolute integrity. He always does what He says. He always keeps His promises. No exceptions. Paul illustrated this with the story of Abraham (vv. 18–21). God promised that Abraham would be “the father of many nations” (v. 18). Yet at age 100 he didn’t have a single son. Hope at this point seemed entirely unreasonable, humanly speaking. Abraham was not delusional. He knew the facts: “His body was as good as dead” and his wife’s womb was dead as well (v. 19). Yet Abraham’s faith did not falter. He was fully persuaded that God would keep His impossible promise. In fact, since there was absolutely no human way for this promise to be fulfilled, God would get even more glory!

On this side of the Cross, our faith is the same as Abraham’s (vv. 22–25). His faith “was credited to him as righteousness” (v. 22). What he looked forward to, we look back on: the saving death of Christ. “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (v. 25; see Isa. 53:12). “Justification” is our righteous standing before God, accomplished in and by Christ. This is how we have peace with God (Rom. 5:1). In Jesus, all God’s promises are kept, wherever we are on the gospel story’s timeline.

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Pray with Us

Dear God, as we remember Abraham’s faith in your promises, we rejoice in the impossible things that you have accomplished for your glory—including our salvation! Thank you for your faithfulness.

BY Brad Baurain

Dr. Bradley Baurain is Professor and Program Head of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Moody Bible Institute. Bradley has the unique privilege of holding a degree from four different universities (including Moody). He is the author of On Waiting Well. Bradley taught in China, Vietnam, the United States, and Canada. Bradley and his wife, Julia, have four children and reside in Northwest Indiana.