Many political leaders today know the power of promise. In order to get the number of votes they need, they speak promises to the people. As leaders they are, often, untouchable. In other words, if they break their promise, the people cannot lay claim on them. They have great power and authority over a lot of people. By default, leader gets all the privileges exclusive only to a small number of people. With so much power, they are looked up by the people under them, who believe in them. Sadly, in today’s world, many leaders are corrupted. The way of the world has slipped into their hearts that they easily utter promises and easily break them as well. Many of them know the power of promise and thus use it to manipulate the mind of the people or their subordinates, just for the sake of gaining their support or for getting the people or their subordinates to do their bidding. Once they get what they want, they don’t feel any obligation to keep their promises. The poor and the powerless are those who are affected the most. The leaders, even though they break promises, they stay untouchable.
When the LORD promised Abraham, he swore an oath in a very dramatic way. In the Old Testament time, when someone made a covenant with another, they showed the weight of their promises expressed in the cutting of clean animals. The OT people understood well that their fate would be like the cut animals if
they would not keep their promises. In Genesis 15, when God gave his promise to Abraham, he ordered Abraham:
“Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” (Genesis 15:9)
Abraham obeyed.
“Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.” (Genesis 15:10)
Then, in a vision, Abraham saw something extraordinary.
“behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.” (Genesis 15:17)
The vision shows that God himself passed through the cut animals to ensure that he will surely keep his promise or his fate will be like the cut animals. The seriousness of making promise is underlined in the ancient times.
“On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.” (Genesis 15:18-21)
If we study the Bible, we will immediately find that God never breaks his promises. Not even when his own people were evil. After Israel was led out of Egypt, they grumbled against Moses and God. In the 40 years journey in the wilderness, they never stopped doing evil in God’s eyes. But God did not break his promise to Abraham. Through Joshua, the LORD brought Israel into the Promised Land, fulfilling Genesis 15:18-21. When God promised, he swore in his own name.
"For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU.” (Hebrews 6:13-14)
He put himself on the line. There is no being greater than God. So God swore by himself, in order that if he did not keep his promise, he would be judged by himself. God does not dishonor man, even though they are mere dust. God honors those insignificant compared to him. He shows this by keeping his promise.
But today, leaders of the people do not follow God’s example. They act as if they were God, but they don’t have even a millimeter of God’s honor and ethics. They treat people with contempt. They break their promises very easily, of which even the true God himself never breaks any promise he utters no matter how difficult it is to fulfill it. The death of the Son of God on the cross is the ultimate proof of God’s promise fulfilled. Many leaders today do whatever they want to their subordinates as if the true God doesn’t exist. The bottom line is, they do not fear God, and worse, they do not respect God at all. But know for sure, that such leaders will be judged by God himself and their cup will be found empty.
If you are a leader, be sure to imitate God. You do not own the life of those under you. They are entrusted to you by the true owner of their life, the LORD. If you have made promises, keep them and fulfill them. If you cannot keep and fulfill your promises, you better step down and leave your post before you are forced to do so by the giver of authority. Honor is rare nowadays, especially if you try to find it among today’s leaders. Honor is a rare jewel these days, for the hearts of many leaders have been corrupted by the way of the world. Everyone desires a leadership position, but they despise the responsibilities that come with it.
Promise can be used to manipulate the mind of people. Leaders know this trick. They learn the trick when they are prepared to be leaders. They call the trick, wisdom. But I will remind you that using promise and not willing to keep it is evil. Promise must be spoken with a true intent to keep and fulfill it. Wedding vows are not too important anymore in the 21st century. Divorce rate spiking is the proof of it. That’s how evil the way of the world is. On the other hand, the way of the LORD is good. God was never forced by anything to utter any promise, yet when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, he immediately uttered a promise, which is not for his own benefit but for the benefit of man. Many leaders today promise for the sake of their own gain. Employers utter promises to the employees so the company profit can be doubled or tripled, but sadly many of those promises would never be enjoyed by the employees for they are broken by the one who speak them. Nation leaders do the same thing. Their promises are on sale when their eyes are fixed to the “throne”, but sadly once they sit on the throne, they bite the very people who support them. But God utters promise for the sake of man, and in the process of fulfilling the promise God goes through suffering. Many leaders today despise suffering. They think it is stupid to suffer for the sake of keeping their promises. The world’s wisdom dictates that what is smart is to redirect the suffering to the receiver of the promise. In other words, rather than sacrificing oneself, a leader is smart when he/she can sacrifice others instead. But see, that’s the difference between the world and God. God does not sacrifice man in order to redirect the suffering. God sacrifices himself for the sake of man. We can judge clearly that man deserves to be thrown to hell forever. But to man, undeserving they are, God swears an oath by himself to keep them alive and to grant them eternal life through Jesus Christ. But to their fellow homo sapiens, today’s leaders swear an oath that they themselves shall not suffer, even at the expense of their followers. But you o wicked leaders, take heed of the word of the true God:
“VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
That word is quoted from Deuteronomy 32:35, the song of Moses before he passed away before the LORD. God will protect his people, so whoever dares to mistreat God’s people, they will face God himself.
Praise the LORD. Hallelujah!!
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