Make A Deal With God

by HJS

"Make a covenant with God" urged the TV evangelist. "Call 1-800... and tell us the amount you want to give." The speaker talked about how God wants you to be the beneficiary of the promises He made to Abraham including wealth, health and prosperity. I have no way of knowing how many people called but I do know that making covenants with God is serious business.

In ancient days there were two types of covenants - beriths, as the Hebrews called them. One was made among equals and could be negotiated by both parties. That was the kind made in business, say in purchasing a piece of property or negotiating for merchandise.

Another kind was made between someone of greater rank and power, and an inferior who had nothing with which to leverage the contract - say between a wealthy landowner and a poor man. This was the kind of covenant that God made with humankind. In mercy and compassion beyond human understanding, God reached down and made promises and covenants with us mortals whose righteousness is "as filthy rags" as Isaiah described it (Isaiah 64:6 KJV).

To apply the benefits and blessings of the covenants that God made with Israel is like being the beneficiary of what was promised to another person. But to understand that God has given many promises to us as His children, and that He will honor those, is good news!

Simply put, you can stand on the promises of God's Word. Long ago Moses said, "God is not a man, that he should lie, not a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23:19).

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.   JEREMIAH 33:3