Day 23 – He Watches over His Word

Wednesday August 15

God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.

Does he speak and then not act?

Does he promise and not fulfill?

I have received a command to bless;

he has blessed, and I cannot change it.  Numbers 23:19-20

Our God is a God of covenant.  When He gives His word, He does not lie and He does not change His mind. God covenanted with Abraham in Genesis 12 that he and his descendants would be blessed.  Hebrews 6 gives this amazing account of this promise:

When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants."   And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.  Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.  Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.  Hebrews 6:13-20

When God swore His covenant with Abraham, He sealed it by two things which are unchangeable and in which it is impossible for God to lie – His character (His very nature) and His word.

Hundreds of years later, we come to the story of Balaam in Numbers 22 and 23.  Balaam was an oracle of questionable allegiance.  He was hired by Balak, an enemy of Israel, for the purposes of cursing Israel (isn’t it interesting to see how Balak understood the power of words?).  But God had a covenant with Israel and even though Israel had not remained completely faithful to Him and even though they had wavered in unbelief (Numbers 13), God still remained true to His word.  God spoke clearly to Balaam:  “you must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed."  (Numbers 22:12).

Even when Balak wouldn’t take no for an answer, Balaam was unable to curse the Israelites.  “No”, he said, “God has commanded me to bless them and because He has blessed them it cannot be reversed”.

Hundreds of years later, God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about His word.

The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?" 

"I see the branch of an almond tree," I replied.  

The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled."  Jeremiah 1:11-12

God was making a bit of a play on words because the word for almond and watching are very similar in the Hebrew.  But He used this picture to drive home a powerful truth for Jeremiah and us all - not only does God speak things, but when He does, He watches over His word to see that it is fulfilled.  Sometimes the enemy will try to lie to us that God is disinterested in our lives or our destinies.  He wants to put us in a place of fear, of feeling like somehow we’re responsible to make the words happen or to make sure our destiny is fulfilled.  But this isn’t true.  We can rest knowing that the words God speaks over our lives are so precious to Him that He Himself is vigilantly watching over them to ensure that they come to fulfillment. 

But does that mean we are without responsibility?  No, not at all!  Jesus taught the principle of faithful stewardship in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.  When we are faithful with a few things, God will see that He can entrust us with more.  And that principle applies to the words the Lord speaks over our lives.  These promises can be scriptures that the Lord made alive in your heart or words or visions or revelations that He has given you in your prayer times.  Or maybe it’s prophetic words that have been spoken over your life through trusted voices. As long as these words line up with the Scriptures ( because God will never contradict His Word) then these promises are all part of our inheritance – what God is preparing us to be able to possess as we enter into the Promised Land. 

So how are we supposed to handle these words?  Paul taught Timothy,

This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. 1 Tim 1:18-19

How are we treating the words that God has given us which are really God’s covenant of promise with us?  Have we stewarded them diligently?  Have we used them to fight the good fight of faith?  Have we asked God to bring us into alignment with His revealed purpose in these words?

Today we want to encourage you to spend time with the Lord and ask Him to remind you of His promises – those things that when He spoke to you, there was a witness in your heart that it was the Lord.  Ask Him to speak them afresh to your heart today.  If you have some words written in your prayer diaries or other places that you haven’t looked at for a while, maybe this is a time to take them out again.  But the most important thing is that from today onwards, make a commitment in your heart to treat the words of God in your life as precious.   Because as you are faithful to steward whatever He gives you, He will entrust you with more and more.

Let’s pray this prayer together:  Lord I thank you that you are not a man that you should lie nor a son of man that you should change your mind. You do not speak and then not act and you do not promise without the intention to fulfill.  Father I thank you for every one of the promises that you have given for my life, for my family, for my church, for my city, for my region and for our nation.  Father I ask you to forgive me for ways in which I have not stewarded well or treated as precious your words to me.  Lord I ask that by Your grace you will redeem whatever is needed to bring Your words into fulfillment in my life, family, church, city, province and nation.

Father I commit that today and every day in the future I will not neglect Your word to me but I will fight the good fight of faith by the words that You have spoken over me.  I declare that Your words are eternal O God and they stand firm in the heavens!  May your will be done in My life according to Your word, O God.  In the name of Jesus, Amen!

For further meditation: Psalm 33:4, Psalm 119, Psalm 12:6