930) In my novel, The Bottle House, there is a character (Stefan) who is an attorney, who, for understandable reasons, is angry with God. The collector of bottles, Chaplain Miller, cuts right to the chase with Stefan, reflecting that they both remember a time when two people verbally agreed on something, shook hands on it and their commitment was sealed.

As the chaplain continues speaking with Stefan, they both agree that taking someone at their word is often imprudent today. That’s why the two characters chuckle when Stefan says this is job security for him. But then Chaplain Miller takes it one step further. He reflects that if society has trained us not to always take people at their word, then sometimes we carry that into our relationship with God and we are hesitant to take God at his word.

In John 4:43-54, we find a royal official whose son is close to death. Jesus challenges the man’s faith, telling him to go home, his son is well. Verse 50 tells us that this man takes Jesus at his word and goes home, finding out on the way his son is better.

Even if we have had someone burn us because we trusted them. Even though we sometimes cannot keep our own word. Even if we must hire an attorney to “seal a deal”, God will always keep his word. You can count on it!