What Has God Actually Promised? 20 Truths from the Psalms
The Book of Psalms is a holy cavern the saints of the Lord have long explored. A place of refuge and solace in the midst of life’s storms, the Psalter has guided the hearts and words of millions of Christ followers throughout the centuries. The walls echo with the voices of the congregation singing praise to the one true God, and yet many have found themselves alone and in the dark wrestling through seasons of spiritual struggle. In all of this, the Psalms reveal truth both human and divine. Through the prayers, laments, celebrations, and reflections of the psalmist, we come to know the one God—the sovereign Lord.
But who is this God and what has he promised us?
Over and over again, the psalmists reveal that their hope and faith in God rests not in prophetic promises of how God will remove the current struggle, but in the promise of who he is. Even in moments where the writer uses words like ‘deliverance’ and ‘salvation’, we have no idea of the timeframe, severity, or nature of the promised divine action. Like the writers of old, we too rarely receive specific promises stating that the cancer will go into remission, the work conflict will subside, or the support money will come in on time. In these trying moments of waiting and wanting, it is our knowledge of the character of our Heavenly Father that shapes our hope in the promises of who God is for his people.
“Over and over again, the psalmists reveal that their hope and faith in God rests not in prophetic promises of how God will remove the current struggle, but in the promise of who he is.”
A True Refuge
One summer I had the privilege of working on an excavation staff in Israel, and the dig-center for the team was a converted bomb shelter. During our time in the field, fighting intensified with a regional civil war, and I vividly remember finding great comfort in our bomb-shelter meetings! When I looked around the room and surveyed the characteristics of the shelter, I became increasingly less concerned—walls of concrete 2 or 3 feet thick with lots of rebar, no windows, cut out into the ground. My sense of security and peace was not just a mantra-induced hope that I would be okay—it was grounded in what I knew of the room. My knowledge of the characteristics of my refuge directly impacted my ability to rest and find comfort in the midst of the growing conflict.
The great promise of refuge in the Psalter is God’s self-revelation of who he is. We cannot always exegete God’s providence, knowing what he will do and when he will do it. But we can always trust in the promises of who God is, and how he is for his people.
“It is our knowledge of the character of our Heavenly Father that shapes our hope in the promises of who God is for his people.”
The following list of twenty divine descriptions provides a promissory glimpse into the character of God as encountered by the biblical writers (verses taken from the English Standard Version). We can trust in the promises of the Psalms that we belong to the God who . . .
Saves the Upright
“My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.” (7:10)
Lifts Me Up
“Be gracious to me, O LORD!
See my affliction from those who hate me,
O you who lift me up from the gates of death” (9:13)
Is Worthy to be Praised
“I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised” (18:3)
Lights My Lamp
“For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness.” (18:28)
Is the King of Glory
“Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory!” (24:8)
Delights in the Goodness of His Servants
“Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!” (35:27)
Answers His People
“But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.” (38:15)
Daily Bears Us Up
“Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up” (68:19)
Gives Power to His People
“The God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.” (68:35)
Has Done Great Things
“You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?” (71:19)
Alone Does Wonderous Things
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.” (72:18)
Executes Judgement
“But it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.” (75:7)
Is My Refuge
“The Most High, who is my refuge” (91:9)
Made Us
“Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” (100:3)
Satisfies with Good
“Bless the Lord. . . . who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (103:5)
Is Seated on High
“Who is like the LORD our God,
who is seated on high” (113:5)
Is on Our Side
“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive” (124:2-3)
Makes the Clouds Rise
“He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth,
who makes lightnings for the rain” (135:7)
Remembered Us in Our Lowliness
“It is he who remembered us in our low estate,
for his steadfast love endures forever” (136:23)
Keeps Faith Forever
“Who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever” (146:6)
Who is This God?
These great promises remind us that God is the creator, who is in the control of all things, worthy of worship, kind and caring toward his people, and faithful to his covenant forever! And the biblical portrait of the consistent character of God continues to feed the worship and wonder of Christians throughout the world. Despite the attempts of Bildad and Zophar—Job’s so-called friends—the promises of God in the Old Testament cannot be used to diagnose the ways of God in the world. His self-revelation never hems him in or ties his hands (Can he not have mercy on whoever he wants? See the book of Jonah!).
We are often transformed by the Psalms in the same way Job was transformed: "Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42:3). Job emerged transformed by the powerful presence of God in the whirlwind; the character and nature of God changed everything.
As the winds pound and swirl around our hectic and busy lives, let us hear the voice of God coming to us in the Psalms, revealing the promises and person of our Savior—the voice that changes everything.
William R. Osborne (PhD, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) serves as associate professor of biblical and theological studies at College of the Ozarks and is the author of Divine Blessing and the Fullness of Life in the Presence of God. He lives in southwest Missouri with his wife and four kids.
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