Whom do you choose to believe?

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

(Numbers 23:19)

Isn't is good to know and trust a God that keeps His word? It is both a comforting and somewhat traumatic fact however!

Consider God's promses . . .

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

(Hebrews 13:5; Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:5; 1 Chronicles 28:20)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

(1 John 1:9)

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

(Romans 10:13; Acts 2:21)

These are such comforting promises . . . knowing our God loves us, forgives us, and keeps us from eternal hell . . . if we choose!

But consider these words . . .

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

(Revelation 20:11-15)

And this warning . . .

So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion,during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me,though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger,‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

(Hebrews 3:7-15; Psalm 95:7-11)

Not so comforting . . . it is to the believer! We cannot pick and choose the promises of God we accept or dismiss. He does not lie. He is a promise keeper! The decision to respond is up to the individual. Whom do you choose to believe?