In One Conversation at a Time Henderson says that Jonathan did three things for David that we should do for our friends: 1. encourage their hearts, 2. remind them of God's promises, and 3. demonstrate your personal loyalty to them(22-23). Now what really caught my eye was the one about God's promises, largely because if you look up a list of God's promises, you will find a list of verses, but these are not necessarily promises we today can claim.
One of the first verses that we like to quote as a promise is Philippians 4:19, "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." But this is not a promise from God to us; this is Paul's response to the Philippians as he writes to them to thank them for their ministry to him. The paradox of this verse became apparent to me in Africa. The Chadians ministered to us out of their want, serious want. The country was near the bottom of the list of poorest nations in the world, and the people among whom we ministered ate routinely only one meal a day, and during the rainy season, as they waited for the harvest, perhaps a meal every other day or more.
If we visited a church or ministered in a village during that time, they would give what little they had to create a meal of thanksgiving to us. BUT my God did not supply all of their needs, as we would define needs. A pastor died of rabies when medicine could have prevented that death. A nurse-evangelist died of kidney failure when a transplant or dialysis would have given her life. Bible school students went hungry, as did many pastors and believers during the rainy season waiting for the harvest. Malaria and hepatitis killed droves of believers when there was medicine to prevent and cure. SO where was God if Paul's words were a promise to all believers?
David, we think said in Psalm 37:25: I have been young, and [now] am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. I remember being challenged with this verse as though it were a promise and no believer would lack food. Now how do we account for the myriad of believers around the world, either in Third World countries or even in prison for their faith who go hungry?
And more than one believer has struggled with Jesus' words to the apostles - not to us - in John 14:13-14, And whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. I don't know about you, but I was taught to pray in Jesus' Name, and I always did, and there were lots of things that I asked for that I did not get... In particular I remember praying for my parents and my best friend that they would be saved. Now perhaps they came to a relationship with Jesus that I never knew about, but I never had a clear understanding of them as born-again people who spoke the same spiritual language that I did.
So what is my point? I guess I am challenged to be careful about how I use God's Word, about what promises I share with my friends or acquaintances. James 5 seems to make it pretty clear that we as believers must expect affliction, weakness, even death. But James also reminds us that as we submit ourselves to God, as we resist the devil and draw near to God, He will draw near to us. (James 4:7-8) Oh, and James is writing to encourage his brethren, believers, then scattered all over the known world. So I think it is pretty fair to own his words here today and share these words with those who are hurting today, not the verses we are prone to claim as promises but which, in reality, are not. And we cannot, should not, black mail God into making them promises.
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