You Can Count On It!

A

lex had been looking forward to this day for a long time.  Vacations were always special in his family because his parents always chose exciting and interesting things for him to see and do.  His dad always asked for Alex’s input when they were planning the vacations and sometimes his parents actually heeded his advice.  But this summer vacation was special because Alex had planned the whole thing.  His dad had told him a little over a year ago to decide where he wanted to go and the family would make plans for the following summer.

At first, Alex thought this would be a cinch. There were so many places he hadn’t seen and so many things he hadn’t done and he believed that making a choice wouldn’t be all that difficult.  However, he soon realized that making preparations for a vacation, especially for a family, could be a formidable task. 

Early on he decided he wanted to go west and his father said that would be an excellent choice since the family had not ventured further than the Mississippi River in their travels.  But that was still a lot of real estate to cover.  Every week, it seemed some new place crossed his mind, or he saw a commercial on television, or learned something new in school.  The task was becoming almost impossible but his dad was persistent, it had to be Alex’s choice. 

Finally, one Thursday afternoon in November, Alex hit the door beaming with delight and smiling like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland.  Earlier that morning, his class had watched a film on geysers and other natural phenomenon. Alex had been taken with the footage of a geyser in Yellowstone National Park called Old Faithful.  The narrator had said that the geyser erupted approximately every hour or so and that people from all over the world came to see it.  The geyser had never failed and could always be counted on to give a spectacular performance.

Alex decided right then and there that his family would make the pilgrimage to Yellowstone to visit Old Faithful and his parents heartily agreed.

All of us could be Alex in this story.  There is something exciting about choosing places to visit and striking out on our own.  But we soon find that life offers us so many things from which to choose that the task is daunting and intimidating at times.  Many things peak our interests and we don’t know which ones are best for us.  Like Alex, we become overwhelmed, and perhaps a little frustrated.

But Alex’s choice does carry a great kernel of truth for us today.  What we are all searching for is someone we can count on, someone who is faithful, who keeps his word and his promises no matter what.  We want to count on them in the same way Alex was counting on Old Faithful to fulfill all the expectations he had for his family’s vacation.

God is what we are looking for.  In this world of shifting morals, ever changing values, where the lines between right and wrong often get blurred, we need to know that God is faithful to us.  We must know and understand that God always keeps his promises to us, that he is always aware of us, that he never forgets us, and that he never, never, never leaves us alone.  Joshua wanted to impress this upon the Israelites so they would remember God’s love for them.

In Joshua 23:14 he says, “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” At the end of his life, Joshua could look back and see how God had kept all his promises.  God had promised Abraham descendants that could not be counted and Joshua was looking at a nation.  God had promised a homeland, and Joshua was standing and living in it.  God had promised to always protect them and he had given them rest on every side.  All these things God promised and all of them came true. Not one promise failed!

T

his is the same God we worship today and these same promises are ours!!  Look back over your life and you will see the many ways and the many times God has fulfilled his promises to you.  His word never fails.  His word is true and just and will always accomplish his purposes.  Just like Old Faithful, you can count on him to come through for you right on time!