God’s Promises Will Outlive Us

I was called to a hospital, to the deathbed of a servant of God, who was dying an inch at a time through a particular virulent form of cancer. And after months in misery, the hospital called his wife and said, “Today it is likely that he will die.”

And as I got to the hospital and beheld his emaciated body, I was moved. And somebody in that situation—you want to do something for that person. I couldn’t administer medical drugs. I wasn’t a physician. So I held his hand, and I tenderly wiped the perspiration from his forehead. He was barely able to utter any sounds at all. And I said, “Deac, what can I do?” He said, “Read the book.”

First, I took some ice and put it on his lips. And I opened up the drawer, and pulled out the Bible, and turned to the book of Hebrews. And I read to him the promises that God had made for the future of the people of God, for that country and that city whose builder and maker is God. And I read that passage from Hebrews which said, “And because God could swear by nothing greater, He swore by Himself” (Heb. 6:13).

And as I read it, the deacon tried to move the corners of his mouth into a smile, and he squeezed my hand. And he shut his eyes, and he died, knowing that for him there was a future because God had promised. And He stands by the promise that He makes to His people, to you and to me, with the integrity of His own being—an absolute commitment.