Holding On to God’s Promises in Uncertain Times: What Are the Promises of God?

What Does a Promise of God Actually Mean?

A promise, at its simplest, is a commitment one person makes to another. When God makes a promise, the weight behind it is His own unchanging character. He is not like a person who makes a vow and then forgets it, or changes his mind because circumstances shift.

The Bible’s word for this kind of reliable, covenant faithfulness is sometimes translated ‘steadfast love’ or ‘loving-kindness’ — and it runs from Genesis to Revelation. God’s promises are anchored in that faithfulness, not in our ability to earn them.

This matters enormously when you are suffering, grieving, or just exhausted. A promise from God is not a formula you have to get right. It is a word from a Person who does not lie (see Numbers 23:19 and Hebrews 6:18).

Jesus Is the Center of Every Promise

Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 1:20 is one of the most sweeping sentences in the New Testament: however many promises God has made — every single one of them — finds its ‘Yes’ in Christ. This is not a small claim.

What it means practically is that you do not collect God’s promises like coupons and redeem them one by one. You come to Jesus, and in Him you are connected to the whole of what God has promised.

When you read the Old Testament and see God promising to be with His people (see Deuteronomy 31:6), or promising that He knows the plans He has for them (see Jeremiah 29:11), those words are not cancelled or replaced by the New Testament. They are fulfilled and confirmed in Jesus. He is the living proof that God keeps His word.

The ‘Amen’ at the end of 2 Corinthians 1:20 is significant too. In Hebrew, ‘Amen’ means something like ‘so be it — this is true and firm.’ When the church says Amen, it is agreeing with what God has already confirmed in Christ.

What Has God Actually Promised?

Scripture is not short on promises. Across both testaments, you find God committing to specific, real things. Here are several that show up repeatedly and are widely affirmed across Christian tradition.

Forgiveness and a clean slate. God promises that when we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive them and cleanse us from unrighteousness (see 1 John 1:9). This is not conditional on how bad or how small the sin is. It is grounded in what Christ accomplished on the cross.

His constant presence. Jesus promises never to leave or abandon those who follow Him (see Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5). This does not mean you will always feel His presence — grief and depression can make God feel very far away. But the promise stands even when the feeling doesn’t.

Peace that holds in hard times. Philippians 4:7 describes a peace that ‘surpasses all understanding’ — not the absence of trouble, but a steadiness in the middle of it. Paul wrote those words from prison. This is a promise worth leaning on, not a guarantee that hard things won’t happen.

Eternal life. John 3:16 and John 10:28 make this plain: those who trust in Jesus are given life that death cannot end. This is the promise that reframes everything else, including suffering and loss.

Promises God Has Not Made

It is just as important to be honest about what God has not promised. He has not promised that following Him means financial wealth, physical health, or a life free from pain. A reading of the psalms, the letters of Paul, and the book of Job makes this clear.

When someone you love dies, when your body is ill, when your job disappears — these are not signs that you failed to claim a promise correctly. The Bible is full of faithful people who suffered deeply. Their suffering was not punishment, and neither is yours.

If you are carrying anxiety, depression, or grief right now, please know that seeking professional help — a counselor, a therapist, a doctor — is entirely consistent with trusting God. Prayer and good professional care belong together, not in competition. God works through both.

What God has promised is not a bypass around hard things, but His presence and ultimate redemption through them. Romans 8:28 is often quoted here — not as an explanation of why suffering happens, but as a statement about God’s long-horizon faithfulness.

How Do You Hold Onto a Promise When Life Is Hard?

Holding onto a promise is less about willpower and more about returning. You return to Scripture — not to find the right verse to make things better, but to remind yourself of who is speaking. The source of the promise is the point.

Writing down specific promises and placing them somewhere visible is a simple practice that has helped believers for centuries. Not as a magic formula, but as a way of keeping truth in front of you when feelings try to crowd it out.

Talking to God honestly about where you are matters too. The psalms are full of prayers that begin with raw despair and end, sometimes only barely, with renewed trust (see Psalm 22, Psalm 88). You are allowed to pray ‘I am struggling to believe this right now — help me.’

Community also carries you when personal faith feels thin. Other believers have held these promises through harder things than most of us face, and their testimony — the living ‘Amen’ Paul talks about — is part of how God confirms His word to a new generation.

How to Begin Trusting God’s Promises Today

You do not need a long theology background to start here. You need honesty and a willingness to come as you are.

Start with one promise. Pick one from the list above — forgiveness, presence, peace — and spend a week reading the passages around it. Ask God to make that specific promise real to you in the circumstances you are actually in.

Find a church or a small group where people read Scripture together. Hearing someone else say ‘this promise held for me in my darkest year’ is its own kind of evidence.

And when you say Amen at the end of a prayer, mean it. You are not just ending a sentence. You are agreeing with what God has already secured in Christ — saying, with the whole church across history, yes, this is true, and I am standing on it.

A Note on Searching for This at Midnight

If you found this article at an unusual hour, something brought you here. Maybe it was hope, maybe it was desperation, maybe it was grief. All of those are welcome starting points.

God’s promises were not written for people who had everything figured out. They were written for the desperate, the doubting, the worn-out, and the searching. You are exactly the audience Scripture had in mind.

You do not need to clean yourself up before you approach these promises. They are already ‘Yes’ in Jesus — which means the door is already open. The only move left is yours: to walk through it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many promises of God are in the Bible?

Scholars and Bible study authors have counted anywhere from around 3,000 to over 7,000 promises in Scripture, depending on how broadly ‘promise’ is defined. What matters more than the exact number is the assurance in 2 Corinthians 1:20 that every single one of them is confirmed in Jesus Christ. You do not need to memorize them all — you need to know the One in whom they are all secured.

Why does it feel like God hasn't kept His promises to me?

That feeling is real, and it is worth taking seriously rather than pushing aside. Some of God’s promises are for eternity and will not be fully visible in this life — which is cold comfort in a moment of pain, but it is honest. Other times, the promise is present but not in the form we expected, as with God’s peace that ‘surpasses understanding’ rather than removes all difficulty. Bringing this honestly to God, and to a trusted pastor or counselor, is a faithful response.

Does God promise health and financial blessing to Christians?

No — not in the way prosperity theology sometimes claims. The New Testament writers, including Paul and Peter, experienced poverty, imprisonment, illness, and violent death while remaining deeply faithful. What God does promise is His presence, forgiveness, ultimate redemption, and life beyond death. These are not small things — they are the things that last when everything else is stripped away.

How do I find God's promises in the Bible?

A good starting place is the Gospel of John, the Psalms, and Paul’s letter to the Romans — all three are dense with God’s commitments to His people. Many study Bibles include a topical index of promises organized by subject, such as peace, forgiveness, or guidance, which makes it easy to find promises relevant to what you are facing. Reading them in context — understanding who received the promise and why — helps you apply them faithfully rather than pulling phrases out of their setting.

What is the difference between a promise for everyone and a promise for a specific person?

Some biblical promises were made to specific individuals or to the nation of Israel in specific historical circumstances — for example, God’s promise to Abraham about land. Applying these directly to your personal situation requires care. Promises made to all who trust in Christ — forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, eternal life, God’s presence — are genuinely available to every believer. A good rule of thumb: if the New Testament confirms a promise as belonging to all who are in Christ, it is yours to stand on.