Permit a bit of reverie, if you will… In John 14 Jesus begins a lengthy discourse full of mind-blowing promises to his disciples: You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. I will not leave you as orphans, but I will come to you. You will see me. Because I live, you also will live. I will show myself to you. The Spirit will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you. Whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
Quite the list! But before he goes into all of it, he starts by saying, “Trust in God; trust also in me.” Before we can truly believe the promises we must get a good look at the promiser, because a promise is only as good as the promiser. I can only believe the promise if I have confidence in the character of the Person who gave the promise.
This is why it’s important not only to meditate on God’s promises, but to meditate on his character. Trust in the Person engenders trust in the what He says. I trust the One who promises if I can hear the tone in His voice. I trust that I can take that which He offers if I can see the light of His face and the curl of His smile.
To use a metaphor from the human body, faith in the Person is the ear and the eye that hears and sees the kind of God who makes such amazing promises. Faith in the promise is the hand and mouth which receives what is offered and uses it. The eye and the ear are necessary to melt away our fear so we can receive with the hand and the mouth.
In other words, our ability to receive the promises depends on our ability to perceive the Promiser. Our reception depends on our perception.
As Andrew Murray put it, “Faith in the promise is the fruit of faith in the promiser. The prayer of faith is rooted in the life of faith.”
Thus endeth the reverie. May God bless the eye and ear of your faith to perceive his goodness, and the hand and mouth of your faith, to receive his promises.
This is timely for me / I am preaching Abraham and Isaac this weekend and have been struck all week by Abraham's trust in the covenant & by his growth between Ch 16 when all he wants to do is take shortcuts to the promise to Ch 22 when he is willing to trust the promise completely!
Good stuff!
Great Ben! Hope the sermon goes well.