Promise Keeper

Trust me. I promise. I give you my word.

But how do we trust when someone says “I promise.?

Well it might depend on who is saying it. Have they proven themselves to be trustworthy? Are they credible, reliable, dependable, and honest?

Or do the circumstances seem sketchy? Does the person making the promise seem sus?

In his May 21. 2026 blog on the Yale University Press, James K.A. Smith wrote: “We are awash in knowledge and overwhelmed by a flood of information … Yet because our society is organized as an information economy, we are also vexed by mis- and dis-information.” He goes on to say “In an age of AI slop and digital duplicity, we can’t even believe our own eyes anymore…despite astronomical amounts of information and knowledge, we trust one another less and less [italics added].

But what is faith without trust? Is faith not as Hebrews 11:1 defines it as “ the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see?” Or do we sometimes look at our own faith with suspicious minds?

We like to sing of standing on the promises of God and in fact we will sing it again this morning, but the epistle lesson today reminds us that Abraham had a lot of circumstances that hindered his ability to trust God. For Abraham and Sarah, it was their old age and a lifelong struggle with infertility. Infertility can still be an incredibly complex and painful situation faced by individuals today, but for Abraham and Sarah, the lack of children and land left them feeling utterly hopeless. During this time, it wasn’t just painful but was what Doug Bratt calls a form of “living death.” Without property to pass down or children to continue the family lineage, the family tree stopped short with Abraham and Sarah. No hope. Not future. Just dry wombs, old bodies, and dead dreams. What was God going to do with that?

Perhaps there are other hindrances in your ability to trust God. Maybe it feels like you keep getting the short end of the stick or its one thing after another. Maybe you keep waiting for things to turn a corner and you’re stuck in the same job on the same path. Maybe you turned the news on for 10 minutes and it’s right back to feeling helpless and hopeless.

What might the roots of hopelessness be today? Who are those whose future feels uncertain or fearful? Who are those who feel as good as dead? Victims of violence or injustice? Those caught in the ravages of war? Those stripped of their rights or treated as less than human? Those who are hungry or isolated or without access to clean water or a basic education?

But God….into a hopeless future God breathed a promise, made a covenant, and said to Abraham and Sarah your descendants shall number as the stars. Abraham laughed, thought it sounded crazy, and tried to take matters into his own hands at times. But what did he also do? He exercised faith. Not perfect faith, but faith that somehow trusted God would keep his promise. He hoped against hope. The CEB says “ When it was beyond hope, he had faith in the hope that he would become the father of many nations, in keeping with the promise God spoke to him.” The Message says “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do.”

Paul says “ He didn’t hesitate with a lack of faith in God’s promise, but he grew strong in faith and gave glory to God.” Now if we aren’t careful, this can almost sound like Abraham’s faith is the center of the equation. Like because he had this super faith, he grew strong and all of God’s promises poured forth. If we look at it from that lens, we turn faith into some sort of currency or spiritual ability that if we just have enough of it, we can cash it in like a spiritual lottery ticket. Diane Moffett says “We live in a world where people advocate the prosperity gospel and “name it, claim it” philosophies. Such thinking places the believer’s faith at the center of power. Some would even lead us to believe that if our faith is strong, we can have anything. When this is the case, how hard one believes is the determining factor for the fulfillment of God’s promises. This reverses the intent of God’s grace and places people in the position of power.” But this is not the power Paul is pointing to.

When we look at “grew strong in faith,” the NRSV fails to really capture the heart of the passive tense of the Greek here. The passive tense tells us that Abraham and Sarah didn’t muster this faith on their own. Someone else acted upon Abraham and Sarah in order to strengthen or persuade their faith. Paul says it was their faith that was reckoned as righteousness, but more than that it was the content of their faith. Diane says “The righteousness is not something Abraham earned because he believed hard and did not struggle in his faith. It is not how hard we believe, but the One in whom we believe, that makes us right with God.” Paul is pointing to the power of God made perfect in weakness, that can create something out of nothing, that can bring life to all situations that were as good as dead. Paul is pointing to resurrection power that shows up even when all else seems hopeless.

You see, we read this passage and have to reflect about whether or not we really trust God. I remember the very first Beth Moore Bible study I ever did where she had us recite these five things:

1. God is who He says He is. 2. God can do what He says He can do. 3. I am who God says I am. 4. I can do all things in Christ. 5. God’s word is alive and active in me.

This is the substance of our faith. This is the content of our hope against hope. Hope that we can trust.

Political historian Heather Cox Richardson was recently asked “what would have to happen for me to concede that the United States is beyond hope?” And her short answer was “the end of the world would have to happen, for I will never give up on hope.”

This past week, the whole focus was when believers pray, vision is revealed. Throughout each worship service, we were reminded of and recited this vision together. The vision is Rooted in Christ, the vision of the Mississippi Annual Conference is to build churches, communities, and connections for all through outreach and innovation.” During closing worship, Rev. Paulette reminded us that we must wait for the vision and trust that it will surely come. Our faith in God, she said, is not a microwave kind of faith. It takes time and persistence like Abraham’s answer to the call to leave home.

How might God be calling you to a deeper level of trust in this season? For myself, I had to let some things go this week. I needed to be reminded that God keeps God’s promises even when sometimes I don’t want to wait for it or rush it or make it happen myself. It had to set aside what I cannot fix or solve or make better. I reflected back on all God has done and it was like God was saying “Hannah, don’t you trust me?” Wouldn’t you know at the United Women in Faith luncheon we sang Promise Keeper together where over and over again we affirmed “that is who you are.”

“Trust me” God says.

God is always inviting us into deeper trust. The MS Annual Conference has been through a lot these past few years. At times, it can feel tempting to despair when things don’t go as planned or communication isn’t ideal or you go through a time where half of your churches and pastors leave, leaving you isolated and with fewer friends than before.

But the ordination service is one that always gives me hope. It gives me hope to watch people respond to God’s calling upon their life to faithfully serve even when they don’t know what lies ahead. They take that next faithful step. As we watch them say yes, it reminds us of our own calling as well.

But there’s more. Each year, Bishop Lewis Logan extends the call. This might be a call to accept Christ, to someone seeking a deeper relationships with Christ, and even a call to ministry. For the past couple of years, no one has responded. At times it has been a bit awkward. The service lasts a long time and sometimes I’ve thought “I’m tired… why does she do this each year? This is a room with mostly pastors and families. Who is going to answer?

And then this year, all of a sudden people came forth. One man who wanted to accept Christ. Others who knew Christ but wanted more. Four more who were feeling a calling into ministry.

God is still at work. God is still calling. God still has a plan and a purpose for you St. Luke.

There is hope. Hope against hope.

“I promise. I promise. I promise.”