We are in the midst of the political primary season and it seems that no politician keeps his or her word. I’m not talking about changing one’s mind; all of us do that from time to time. I am talking about keeping the promises we have made.
Moses kept the promise to Joseph to take Joseph’s bones with them when the Israelites left
Word keeping… rattled in my thoughts. Too often in my world it seems that ‘word keeping’ is no longer a given. “Till death do us part” or “As long as we both shall live” is a vow in most weddings and yet 50% of weddings end prematurely in divorce. How sad. I wonder how many couples bail rather than working first to keep their word to each other. I just don’t know...
Pre-nups are all the rage these days. Something in me cringes when I think about that. Pre-nups seem to signal, “Hey if/when things don’t work out, these are the assets I intend to keep…”
Like I said, I just cringe at the thought…
Even more, everything these days seems to be finalized by a contract of some kind. A person’s word is no longer her/his bond. And ‘getting out of contracts’ seems to be the business of the day for many lawyers…
Not long ago a contract for a service we had was voided because the entity filed for bankruptcy. I understand those things happen, but only a couple of months before filing, this company pushed us to re-up for the next summer’s contract (paying a slightly reduced fee for 11 months in advance), which we likely forfeited in the bankruptcy. I can’t help but believe that the handwriting was on the wall when they asked us –long term partners- to re-up. Frustrating. Now maybe there was no intention to short us our fee, but something just doesn’t feel right.
And maybe the feeling I have is because all too often people today ‘reneg’ on their word. I don’t think I will ever know the full answer.
This brings me back to the text, Moses and the Israelites keeping the word spoken to Joseph centuries earlier.
God’s not so subtle whisper to me… “Keep your word. Be a man of your word. Let your word be your bond.”
God is asking us to live in His character, for the Lord is a word-keeper! And because of that I can rest assured that when I die eternity awaits, thanks to faith in Jesus Christ. Because that is what God has said in His Word.
Lord God, thank You for keeping Your Word. I believe You. I trust You and I seek to emulate You. Through Jesus, I pray. Amen.
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