One of the best promises I can find in the Holy Bible is Numbers 23:19 which says; “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”
   Once we have established once and for all in our heart that God will not and cannot lie, things get a lot easier when we are facing hard times.  God has often told us He will not leave or forsake us, and we have many wonderful promises given unto us in His Word, ranging from salvation, healing, provision, protection, to His unwavering and unconditional love.  Yet, I see so many “believers” who seem to spend most of their times like Congress, looking for “Loopholes”.  Well, let me save you a lot of trouble, there are no loopholes in God’s word.  He said what He meant, and meant what He said.  Too bad people aren’t more like that.
   I guess that means God’s Word can work for or against us, depending on what side of it we are on.  Kind of like a fly swatter, it’s trouble for the flies, yet a blessing for those being bothered by flies.   For example, God said a few times in the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt not….”  Yet we seem to think we can do it anyway and get away with it, for God is a God of grace, right?  What part of “Thou shalt not…” do we not understand?  Seems in this day of “enlightenment” we are about as dense as a rock, doesn’t it?  There are penalties for doing what God said not to do, and I do believe He means business when He says “NO!”   Seems to me back in the Old Testament, people were punished for disobeying God, and you don’t have to look real hard to find some of them.  King Saul lost his kingdom because of his disobedience, and no, he couldn’t blame it on anyone else or put the responsibility on someone else, even though he tried. He tried to blame Samuel for being late for an offering.  He tried to blame the people of the Kingdom.   HE was disobedient, and HE suffered the consequences for it.  Sometimes others suffer for your disobedience, too, but that’s not the issue right now, personal accountability is.
   Look, God doesn’t care if everyone else is doing it, ten million people doing wrong doesn’t make it right, and there are things going on in our country that God says are wrong.  We don’t need to have committee meetings or church board meetings to vote on them, because God has already set the standard, and that’s that.  No vote necessary.  And it’s time people, especially God’s people, get with the program and start doing what God said to do, and stop doing what He said not to do.  I see God’s Word somewhat like a plumb line hanging down from heaven, saying what is straight and what isn’t.  And yet, people, and yes, even some of God’s people, are leaning real hard against that plumb line to make it lean toward what they want to see as right, so they can make God’s word line up with their out-of-kilter life.  Sorry, it won’t work. 

Have you ever tried to do a remodeling project in an older home?  I have.  There is precious little in one that is plumb and square because of settling.  You can be sure it started out plumb and square, though, because the old timers were pretty picky about their work, unlike these days, but as time passes, things just kind of drift out of plumb and square, just like our society has today. It started out right, what happened?  Well, for one thing, people calling for “CHANGE” had a hand in it.  Trouble is, people don’t have enough sense to know what needs changing, and what needs left alone.  That’s God’s job, not ours.  Sometimes things are better left alone, and if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.   But, we’ll say something really does need to be changed or added to.   If you try to build “plumb and square” new construction up against the old, out of square construction, things don’t want to line up.  And it’s the same if you try to put “today’s morality” up against the plumb and square morality of yesterday, they just don’t line up. Either way, you have a mess on your hands.  Some just throw up their hands and walk away and leave things as they were, wishing it was different, but not actually doing anything about it.  Not me.  I can’t look at something broken and not fix it, you can ask my wife.  And I can’t look at a broken life and not want to fix it, either.  However, I can’t fix everything.  But God can, that is, if we are willing to cooperate with Him.
   By the same token, there are things God said “YES” to in His Word, and we seem to look for loopholes in those things as well, believing everything but what God said.  “Well, you never know what God’s gonna do…”  Yes you do, He does what He said He will do.  Here, let me make it easy for you:  there are two rules:  Rule number one, refer to Numbers 23:19.  Rule number two, if you think God DID lie, refer to rule number one.   Simple, huh?  And if you live by those two rules, life will be easy for you.  I’m not trying to be funny here, I’m trying to help you!  People call me for prayer for healing, and when I tell them of God’s promises concerning healing, it’s almost like they want to talk me out of what God says is true.  “Well, the Doctor said so-and-so….”  I don’t care what the Doctor said, what did GOD say?   Let’s believe God!  Nothing against the Doctor, but hey, the Doctor is but a mere person, not the Almighty.  Why do you think you must jump through all kinds of hoops to get God to heal you?  He already said YES.  Let me give you a clue: you aren’t waiting for God to heal you, He’s waiting for you to run with what He has already provided for you.  Quit begging!  Say Thank You, Lord, and take it.
   Let’s say they’ve laid off a bunch of people at work, and you’re afraid for your job.  If you’re God’s servant, then what are you worried about?  Is heaven in recession?  Tell me, did Jesus hand out fish and loaves to the hungry, or did He go down to the Welfare Office and apply for food stamps?  Where did Jesus get the power to feed the hungry?  That’s right, from His heavenly Father.  You’ll remember that the Lord Jesus blessed the fishes and loaves, then broke them and distributed them to the Disciples, and they in turn to them that were set down to eat.  That same heavenly Father that supplied the Disciples hands, will supply YOURS,  that is, if God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent….
Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”