J.C. Ryle: The Promises of God

How many times have we been let down by someone who has not kept their word?  How many times have we let others down?  Unfortunately, this is the reality of living in a sinful world.  But praise be to God who does not lie or fail to do what He has said.  May these words from J.C. Ryle be an encouragement and reminder to God's people of His greatness, power, goodness, and reliability.

"There is one grand difference between the promises of Adam's children and the promises of God, which ought never to be forgotten.  The promises of man are not sure to be fulfilled.  With the best wishes and intentions, he cannot always keep his word.  Disease and death may step in like an armed man, and take away from this world him that promises.  War or pestilence or famine or failure of crops or hurricanes may strip him of his property, and make it impossible for him to fulfill his engagements.  The promises of God, on the contrary, are certain to be kept.  He is almighty; nothing can prevent His doing what He has said.  He never changes; He is always 'of one mind,' and with Him there is 'no variableness or shadow of turning' (Job 23:13; James 1:17).  He will always keep His word.  There is one thing which, as a little girl once told her teacher, to her surprise, God cannot do.  'It is impossible for God to lie' (Heb. 6:18).  The most unlikely and improbably things when God has once said He will do them, have always come to pass.  The destruction of the old world by a flood and the preservation of Noah in the ark, the birth of Isaac, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the raising of David to the throne of Saul, the miraculous birth of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the scattering of the Jews all over the earth, and their continued preservation as a distinct people - who could imagine events more unlikely and improbable than these?  Yet God said they should be and in due time they all came to pass.  In truth, with God it is just as easy to do a thing as to say it.  Whatever He promises, He is certain to perform."