God never fails
“Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; everyone was fulfilled (NIV) Joshua 21:45
In the very middle of the sixty-six books of the Bible, we find a very profound message for mankind: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans” (Psalm 118:8). I find these words very comforting and a veritable assurance. Anyone who disputes these words of God and rather do the opposite (put their trust in man) always come to the rude awakening that man cannot be trusted.
I manage a private basic school in my home country Ghana, West Africa. Over the years God has blessed us with very good results and our graduates gain admission to some of the top notch high schools in Ghana. Something interesting but sad happened this year. One of our best students had excellent grades and gained admission to one of the elite high schools in Ghana. We all celebrated with her because this is the first time one of our products had gained admission to such a prestigious school. The young lady was beside herself with boundless gratitude and joy because she had worked so hard for this to happen and this was indeed a turning point in her life. But as Ola Rotimi said in his novel “The Gods Are Not To Blame”; “Joy has a slender body that breaks too soon.” The father of the young girl has refused to finance her high school education. He bluntly told her, “I have no money to send you to the high school”.
When the girl was in my school, the father shirked the responsibility of paying the school fees. However, due to the brilliance and tenacity of the girl, the grandmother offered to take care of her junior high school education. During the high school selection, I decided to choose for her a school close to where she stays so that commuting cost will reduce considerably for her. However, the dad who has refused to pay the girl’s educational expenses will not budge. He vehemently opposed the idea and he insisted that he wants the daughter to choose a high school in the nation’s capital. I knew this man cannot be trusted but the naive young lady thought that the father will fulfil his words once she gains admission to that elite school. Now, here was the girl sitting in front of me in my office, utterly disappointed in his father’s attitude. There was no need of reminding her of how risky is it to trust man, not even her dad – she had learnt her lesson the hard way.
We are in the season of election. Politicians are at their best dishing out promises to the electorate. In my home country Ghana, politicians always give us ambitious promises but when we surrender our sovereignty to them they tell us there is no money in the system. Our politicians treat us the same way the man treated his daughter, yet every four years they come back for us to renew our trust with them. A lot of people trust these politicians than God – it is very sad.
Today’s message is simple: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans” (Psalm 118:8). God never fails! Not one of his good promises for your life will fail. Never put your trust in man, not even your own self. In God we trust, all others we monitor.