PROMISES TO KEEP

1 Kings 1:48 “'Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.”

Here are the poignant words of Poet Robert Frost:

“The shouts of today are so loud that I do not hear the echoes of yesterday, nor do I listen to the faint whispers of tomorrow. All I really know is what is clamoring in my ear right here, right now. That makes me lose perspective. The shouts of today are so insistently loud that I do not hear the dwindling echoes of yesterday, nor do I listen to the faint and distant whispers of tomorrow. I forget what I have promised, just because I am trying to handle right now.

Sometimes it takes a crisis to focus me on the commitments I have made; for the truth is that I have miles to go before I sleep, and promises to keep. And promises to keep.”

Beneath the apparent tranquility of the poet’s lines there lingers restiveness, because he knows he is nearing the end of his life, and there are things he has promised to do, but has not done. There are commitments he has made, but has not kept.

Haven’t we all made promises? Which promises do we keep and which ones do we set aside? Which promises are sacred, never to be broken, and which ones are ho-hum, if it’s convenient? I don’t know about you, but I find in my own life that the promises I make to other people I do my best to keep. I can only hope that I take the same approach to those promises I make to God.

In our scripture we find that King David was a weary warrior, just about at the end of his life. He did not have long to live, and he knew it. But David was about to find out that even at that stage of life, he still had work to do.

One of David’s sons, Adonijah, was ambitious, and wanted to become king. Never mind that his father David had not yet died. Never mind that it was by no means clear in this kingdom that the crown is passed from father to son; after all, David himself did not get it that way. And never mind, most of all, that David had not promised the throne to Adonijah, but to another son, Solomon. None of that mattered to this crafty and ambitious young man. He wanted to be king and he went about gathering support. The Kingdom of Israel was about to go into full-fledged crisis.

David had thought, early on, it would be easy to promise Solomon the throne and make it happen. But his life got complicated and he forgot about his promises. The shouts of today are so insistently loud that we do not hear the dwindling echoes of yesterday, nor do we listen to the faint and distant whispers of tomorrow. David forgot what he had promised, just because he was trying to handle right now. In the end, David was held accountable and kept his promise to Solomon.

God wants to grant us the desires of our hearts, if we keep the promises we have made to him. We may get sidetracked. The demands and distractions of the real world are a lot to handle and we may lose our way. We must maintain our spiritual focus and remember our commitments to live a life for God. If we are faithful over what we have been called to do, our life will be complete and we will see God’s blessings.