Promises you can't keep

The evidence was there even when I was a boy, but it wasn’t until I became a father that I really had to come to grips with the fact that I need to be careful about my promises to those I love.

As a teen and twenty-something, the songs of the day delivered emotional messages with alluring promises.

Simon and Garfunkel sang: “When you’re weary, feeling small, when tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all; I’m on your side. When times get rough, and friends just can’t be found, like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down.”

“Carole King and James Taylor sang: “You just call out my name, and you know wherever I am, I’ll come running. All you have to do is call and I’ll be there.”

Bill Withers sang: “Lean on me when you’re not strong.”

Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 sang: “I’ll be there, I’ll be there. Just call my name, I’ll be there.”

Make no mistake. It is God's desire that friends and family can and should be sources of encouragement and assistance. Parents absolutely should pledge to their children they will do everything in their power to guard and protect them.

But the reality is we cannot make absolute promises in terms of our physical presence (“I’ll always be there for you”), or our capacity to make life neat and clean (“There is no challenge we can’t defeat together.”).

From childhood illnesses to traumas at school, from emotional blows to physical separation from home, we learn that our limitations are real.

God the Father, however, suffers NO limitations in terms of intimacy with His children – and the power to “be there” at any time, under any circumstances. Those who have “died to self” and accepted the gift of God’s grace through His Son Jesus Christ have a blessed assurance that no one other than the Creator can offer.

Most popular songs, past and present, ring hollow for me today. Instead, I prefer to share my personal testimony of God’s love and grace. And Spirit-inspired verses like those that follow:

Psalm 23:4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil, for You are with me.”

Matthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations … teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Deuteronomy 31:8: “The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

These are “lyrics” for the ages. Truths you can depend on without fail! Trust and obey. Our Father, Who desperately desires a personal relationship with each of us, will NEVER fail or forsake us!