A Threefold Promise

I love the promises of God! There are three especially precious promises within these two verses from the Book of Proverbs.

The first promise relates to what the Lord offers to give us directly – wisdom, knowledge and understanding. Many is the time when someone has asked me for advice, an opinion, for prayer or for direction in their lives – when I would love to have referred them to this Scripture. Sometimes people think that it is only someone in public ministry that can help them! But the truth is that God has promised wisdom, knowledge and understanding to all believers. As we read his Word, and meditate on its truths we will find that the Spirit of God speaks into our hearts with God’s revelation for our situation.

The second promise relates to those who are upright – that doesn’t mean those who can stand tall physically, but it does mean those who choose to walk tall spiritually – who commit themselves to a life of truth and integrity, living in accordance with God’s Word and in the safety of His commandments. For those who walk uprightly like this God promises to be a shield of protection and to give us victory in the things that he puts before us to do.

The third promise tells us that the Lord will also guard the way ahead of us and protect us on the journey of life. That doesn’t mean to say that we won’t face problems, but it does point us in the direction of a narrow walk of faith. I love the story that John Bunyan tells in his book Pilgrim’s Progress, of how Christian was climbing the ‘hill difficulty’ and there were two lions on the road ahead of him. He immediately went into fear and was at a loss what to do. But in faith he kept walking in the middle of the road with the lions roaring at one side and the other. It was only when he reached the place where the lions were that he realised they were chained and that if he walked right in the middle of the road there was a narrow path of safety where the lions were unable to reach him.

The Christian life is a commitment to walking along that narrow path – the path where we will truly hear the voice of the Lord encouraging and directing us, the place where we will experience the shield of His protection and the path which God has promised to guard us on each step of the journey. I pray that as you put your feet down, one step at a time, on the pathway of life, that you will know God’s clear direction as He speaks to you along the way.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for the wonderful promises contained within these verses of Scripture. Help me to not just be blessed by knowing they are in Your Word, but by experiencing for myself the fulfilment of the promises in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.