God’s commands cannot be grasped apart from His gracious promises. When we fail to appropriate the greater grace of God to fulfill His will, we open the door to tolerating unbelief, which is unacceptable to God.
When we choose to believe them, God’s promises compel us to respond toward the Lord’s commands in love and faithful obedience. His promises have the ability to enable us to “press on.” Jim Cymbala wrote: “It is not in the nature of the ‘Thou shalts’ and ‘Thou shalt nots’ to draw help from God. It is the ministry of His gracious promises to do that.”
Placing our faith in circumstances rather than in God’s promises puts us at risk of rebellion, for if we don’t believe Him, we won’t obey Him.