Very recently, many people made at least one New Year’s resolution for the year 2020.  According to U. S. News and World Report, about 80%

of people who make New Year’s resolutions fail to keep their resolutions by mid-February.  All those good intentions do not last very long at all, and only about 8% of people keep their promises to themselves for the entire year.

        “Words from Above” in the Bible tells us that the God of heaven keeps every single one of His promises sooner or later.  We can always count on Him to do what He says he will do, no matter what.  On the other hand, we cannot always count on others, and often others will disappoint us.  In past generations it was said that a man was as good as his word, but now people have to rely on written contracts and legal documents.  Even these are no guarantee that people will keep their promises.

        In Lamentations 3:23 we are told that the mercies of God are new every morning, and this is a sign of God’s great faithfulness.  Numbers 23:9 tells us that God is not a man, that He should lie, but when He says some-thing He will do it.  In the days of the Old Testament, God made a covenant, or agreement, with His chosen people Israel.  He promised to be their God if they were faithful in keeping all of the commandments that He gave them.  Unfortunately, even though they said that they would keep His command-ments, they frequently broke them.

        The good news is that God promised that if His people saw the error of their ways, and sought His forgiveness, He would give them another chance.  When God’s people sinned against Him as a nation, He would often punish them by allowing one of their enemies to take them captive into a foreign land.  When God saw that they had learned their lesson, however, He would allow them to return to their homeland.

        We read in Ezekiel 36 that after God’s people disobeyed the command-ments of God by worshipping idols, He scattered them among the heathen nations of the world.  In the course of time, God had pity on His people, and for the sake of His own name, He brought them back into their own land.  In order to help them not repeat their same mistakes, God promised through Ezekiel the prophet to give them a new heart, and also to put a new spirit within them.  His purpose was to make it possible for them to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments.  He will do the same for us today.

Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.