God's Unfailing Promises (Romans 9:6) - Radical

God’s Unfailing Promises (Romans 9:6)

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But it is not as though the word of God has failed.
Romans 9:6

Now, we could keep going on in this verse. There’s actually a second part of this verse. And the context around it is really important. Paul has been talking about the triumphant love of God in Christ. Then he turns in Romans 9 to the Jewish people. His own people who he begins to grieve over because they have rejected the love of God in Jesus.

Romans 9:6 Teaches Us that the Word of God Never Fails

Then he gets to verse six, he says, But it is not as though the word of God has failed. So some might say, well, God’s promises are not coming true because his people are not trusting in him. And there’s a lot we could talk about there. Both with the remnant that does continue among Jewish men and women and children.

It continues all the way to today, even as we pray for the spread of the gospel among Jewish men and women and families spread out around the world. And we praise God for followers of Jesus among those Jewish men and women and families who have trusted in Jesus and are faithfully spreading the gospel. But I really want to camp out on this phrase that Paul uses when he says the Word of God has not failed.

And I just want to encourage you with that phrase today. When you or I walk through trials, through challenges. Or when you and I pray for things and God doesn’t answer in the way we’re hoping or wanting him to. When you or I face certain situations in life, we can be tempted to think that God’s Word is not true. That God’s Word has failed us. And I just want to encourage you, even as I encourage my own heart in a fresh way today. God’s Word doesn’t fail ever.

Romans 9:6 Encourages Us to Trust God Whole-heartedly

God’s Word never fails, those who trust in him and his Word. Now, in the short term… And by short term that could mean days or weeks or months. Or it could mean years or decades. But it’s still a short term in light of eternity. We may struggle to see how God is being true to his Word. Surely that was the case for centuries of slavery in the Old Testament. And we could go through many other instances.

Think about Joseph spending year after year after year in prison. And God, why is this happening? I think about Abraham with a promise from God that he would have a child. Sarah after all these years struggling to believe. Has your Word failed, oh God? And time and time and time again, every single time God’s Word proves true. And I guarantee you, well, that’s the point. It’s not even me guaranteeing you.

It’s Romans 9:6 guaranteeing you, God’s Word will not fail. You put your trust in God’s Word, you will not regret it. You will never, ever regret trusting in God’s Word because God’s Word will not fail you. So, God, we praise you right now for your Word. We praise you for the faithfulness of your Word.

This Verse Encourages Us to Trust in Spite of Our Circumstances

The grass withers, the flower fades, but your Word stands forever. Your Word will prove true. Psalm 18, Your way is perfect and your Word proves true. And all who trust in you find refuge in you, find a shield around us from you because your Word is unfailing.

So God, help us. When we can’t see, when we don’t understand when we’re asking, and you’re not answering in the ways we would hope, when we’re waiting in all kinds of different ways when we’re struggling and wrestling. God, help us to hold fast to your Word and to believe much like we read in Romans 4 with Abraham. Not to waver through unbelief, but to be fully persuaded that you have power and you will do what you have promised. And that in the end, our song will be, you didn’t fail me. Your Word did not fail me.

God, we praise you for this confidence and we pray that you would help us to cling with confidence to your Word and to know your Word that doesn’t fail. God, help us to meditate long on your Word, to memorize your Word that doesn’t fail, so that we can cling to it with all of our hearts. And God to spread it, to spread the Word that doesn’t fail to people around us today, and to spread the Word that doesn’t fail to people around the world.

Prayer for the Batahin People

We pray for the Batahin people of Sudan, 307,000 of them, most of them never having heard your Word. God, we pray for the Batahin of Sudan throughout Northern Sudan speaking the Bagri dialect. God, cause your Word to spread to them in their dialect, in their language.

God, we pray that for people around the world who don’t have your Word in their language, your Word that doesn’t fail, may it be translated into every language. Please God bless the work of Bible translations so that the Word that doesn’t fail would be known by every person in the world. We pray all of this according to your Word that doesn’t fail in Romans 9:6. In Jesus’ name, amen.

David Platt

David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.

David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.

He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.

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