Why do we need promises? :: Hold Tight Day 2

I remember when I was in elementary school, probably in first or second grade.  On the playground there were long tunnels that had different colors of faded, chipped off paint showing the gray concrete underneath.  Almost every day, I’d crawl into the tunnel with my girlfriends to hide from boys, giggle and tell each other secrets we’d pinky promise to keep.

Sometimes we’d say, “I cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye” as we drew an “x” with our fingers on our chest and swore to keep that deep, dark secret my friend was about whisper in my ear.
How horrible!  Who ever was the first to give that oath and it became a childhood rhyme?   (Well, I did become curious and researched it a little and found it originated as a religious oath based on the sign of the cross in the early 1900s.  Kind of weird.)
A dictionary says a promise is “to give your word about something or guarantee that you will do whatever you are saying you will do.” 
But why do we need promises?
Hardly does anyone what to admit to it, but we’re all needy people.  Whether wealthy, poor or somewhere in between, all people feel they need something more.  Deep in your gut you know you need to feel whole, apart from the feeling that there’s just something missing.  You need a promise that there’s more to life than just physical things.  You need a guarantee that you’re cared for and loved when you feel a void and when you’re broken, hurt and lost. 
We need promises of hope.   
We need promises of security. 
We need promises of assurance. 
God created in the depths of each of our hearts a need to be loved.
He promises to love you which comes with a feeling like no other kind of love.  And to prove that, he’ll do whatever it takes and whatever  needs to be done to make sure you know that. 
We need to believer that.  Sometimes it takes a while to realize that.  It did for me.  But He kept doing everything He promised me in His Word until I grasped it…and He still does. 
God is the very first to give His word about something, and He guarantees He will do whatever He says He’s going to do. 
God is the Promise Giver and the Promise Keeper.
 
 

“Yes.  I’ll stay with you, I’ll protect you wherever you go…I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you.”

Genesis 28:16

 

What was God’s first promise?  Let’s look into that tomorrow…

 

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