Ready Ammunition

"For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line; line upon line; here a little and there a little:" Isaiah 28:9-11

      As I was reading for my devotions today, it felt like God was once again having to remind me that His promises are true, no matter what the circumstances may say. In II Corinthians Paul wrote to the Corinthian church a second letter dealing with issues the church was still having. In the beginning of the book, Paul had to defend himself as an apostle to this church. He had to persuade them that his words were true because he represented God. Basically, Paul was saying that with God, His "yes" is "yes" and His "no" is "no" and as His minister, his were too.
       As I looked at my Bible's commentary on these verses, they said there is no middle ground between God's "yes" and His "no."  God is never going to tell me 'yes' when He really means 'no', He's not that cruel. If God says it, then He means it. The commentary also referred to God's promises. He's not going to promise us something He has no intention of fulfilling.
     Obviously my mind went to Matthew 18:19. There is a definite promise there. God will hear and answer a request made by two saved people agreeing in prayer. God made this promise and He has every intention of fulfilling it. I do not understand the 'why's 'of everything that has happened and I'm not sure of the 'when' happening, but I am sure of a God Who is absolute and Who says what He means. His promise is a promise, we will meet Tebow.
     The odd thing about these verses today was that I wasn't struggling with doubting God or His promises. As I began my devotions, I mentioned to God I hadn't heard Him say anything about this request in a few days and that I'd like too. I then remembered the verse from Isaiah quoted above. At first, I thought that God was having to teach me the same principle, again. I originally started this blog off thinking those verses dealt with God having to teach the same thing over and over again. The more I wrote, however, the more I realized that really wasn't what God was trying to show me. He was just solidifying what He had already taught me...precept upon precept, line upon line.
     As a teacher, I know one very effective way of teaching my students something is to repeat it again and again over several days and to keep reviewing it over time. I make my 6th graders say their spelling and vocab words every day. They hate it, but come test day, very few, if any of them have to study because it was drilled into their heads every day for a week. That is all God is trying to do here...get something into my head that will stay so when the testing comes, it's there and I don't have to stop mid-trial and review what He's taught me, if I had to do that, I would be vulnerable to Satan and might loose the battle.
     Precept upon precept, line upon line can be very tedious and trying sometimes, just ask my 6th graders. Sometimes it can be comforting and reassuring, again ask my 6th graders when they forget to study. God wants us to be able to defeat Satan and having ready ammunition is important and that's all precept upon precept is...ready ammunition.