written by Jennifer Blatto-Vallee

Promises are made and broken everyday. Sometimes the consequences of a broken promise are immediate, while at other times they are realized at some distant time in the future. God holds us to our promises. I once heard someone teach that it is better to not promise God anything than to make promises and then break them. How many times do we hear people saying things like, “OK God I will do this… if you…,” and as soon as God fulfills his end we forget the promises we’ve made. How many promises have you made to yourself, your family and God that have been broken? Thankfully, we serve a long-suffering, compassionate, and loving God. If you ever doubt that just count how many times God delivers Israel after they have gone against what He has told them. Even after we fail and have gone against what God wants for us, He is faithful and true to His word that He will take us back; He will restore us. There may be consequences and long lasting effects, but there is always love and forgiveness.

In this passage the Israelites have been enduring a famine for three years. As David goes to the Lord he learns that this is happening due to a broken covenant between Saul and the Gibeonites. This covenant was made long before David became king, but God expected him to honor that covenant and do what Saul had not. The interesting thing is that the covenant was made in err. God had told the Israelites not to make any covenants with the Gibeonites, but through a bit of trickery by the Gibeonites, a covenant was made. Even though the covenant was against what God had ordered and it was made under false pretences, when Saul broke this covenant God held the people of Israel accountable. Not until David had rectified the situation with the Gibeonites did God restore the fruit of the harvest. We serve a God that honors covenants. Thankfully and mercifully, He has offered His son as an everlasting covenant, and even though we falter and waiver on our end of the covenant, God is faithful and always honors the covenant He has made with us through the blood of His son Jesus.

A fellow traveler,
Jennifer