Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Abraham and the Promise
Jul 19th, 2019
Morning MeditationF. B. Meyer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

THE PROMISE. -- "Unto thy seed will I give this land" (Genesis 12:7). As soon as Abraham had fully obeyed, this new promise broke upon his ear. And it is ever thus. Disobey -- and you tread a path unlit by a single star. Obey, live up to the claims of God -- and successive promises beam out from heaven to light your steps, each one richer and fuller than the one before. Hitherto God had pledged Himself only to show the land: now He bound Himself to give it. The separated pilgrim-life always obtains promises.

There was no natural probability of that promise being fulfilled. "The Canaanite was then in the land." Powerful chieftains like Mamre and Eschcol; flourishing towns like Sodom, Salem, and Hebron; the elements of civilization -- all were there. The Canaanites were not wandering tribes. They had settled and taken root. They built towns, and tilled the land. They knew the use of money and writing; and administered justice in the gate. Every day built up their power, and made it more unlikely that they could ever be dispossessed by the descendants of a childless shepherd.

But God had said it; and so it came to pass. "The counsel of the Lord standeth fast for ever; the thoughts of His heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:11). I know not what promise may be over-arching your life, my reader, with its bow of hope; but this is certain, that if you fulfil its conditions, and live up to its demands, it will be literally and gloriously fulfilled. Look not at the difficulties and improbabilities that block the path, but at the might and faithfulness of the Promiser. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His words shall not pass away." Not one jot or tittle shall fail (Mark 13:31; Matthew 5:18; Luke 16:17). And promise after promise shall light your life, like safety lighthouses at night along a rocky coast, which pass the vessel onward, till at the last the rays of the rising sun shine full on the haven where the mariner would be.         -    F. B. Meyer