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I shudder to think of all the unkept promises that I have ever made in my life. How many people have I disappointed? How many opportunities for ministry have I missed? It is not that I made promises and then planned to not keep them. I want to keep every promise I make. But the cares of this life and the busyness of life distract me.

When we make promises, the people we make promises to expect us to keep them. My youngest son has taught me to be careful about what I promise him. If I make a promise to my son "T", he will remind me of that promise until the promise is kept. It doesn't matter if it is a promise to give him a cookie sometime after dinner, make a trip to the dollar store on the weekend, or a special activity for his next birthday -- 360 days away!

My son has taught me not to make a promises lightly; I would rather not make a promise to him than to "lie" to him and not keep my word. He believes that I will keep my promises to him. I do not get mad when he reminds me of my promises to him. But more than that, he has taught me what it is to trust in the promises that my Father makes to me in His Word. As much as I want to keep my word to my son; my Father in heaven wants to keep His promises to me even more. But I have to first believe that God is and that He does keep His Word.

God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind ... what a comfort that is! We either believe God and His Word; or we don't. God is willing and wanting to keep His promises to us, if only we believe in Him and His Word. He doesn't get mad when we remind Him of His promises to us ... He knows that's what children do.