My Own Old Testament Promise

What the New Covenant Actually Promises Us

✦ ✦ ✦

As a Bible reader, I have had these moments, and probably you have too. You’re reading a book in the Bible and suddenly, a promise leaps off the page.

Let’s walk through it. God tells Abraham he will become the father of a great nation, or God tells David that his throne will endure, or perhaps God promises Joshua that Israel will possess the land.

And something in you whispers:

“Oh my gosh… is this for me too?”

Especially when you are waiting for a miracle or a promise on your own life.

We can fall into this trap where we start searching Scripture for a promise that sounds like our situation and then quietly build our expectations around it. I’ve done it before, get your Bible and ask God to point to a passage, and then you see it: Deuteronomy 8:7-10 “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land…”

Then you go: ‘This surely is the plot of land I passed on my way home. Lord thank you for pointing me to this promise you have made to me’

However, there is an important point that needs to be made.

The promises we encounter in the Old Testament are not a personal promise to every believer. They were not made directly to us. Some promises were made specifically to Abraham, Israel, David or another person within a particular moment in God's redemptive plan. That doesn't mean they are irrelevant to us. It means we need to understand how they relate to us through the wider biblical story and, ultimately, through Christ.

And understanding why may actually give us a much better understanding of what God has promised us, personally.

The Bible needs to be read in context, this is an account of salvation history, not my account on acquiring a property for myself.

✦ ✦ ✦

The Promises Were Part of a Bigger Story

When we read the Old Testament, we are not simply reading a collection of individual stories about people receiving personal blessings from God.

We are watching the account of salvation history unfold.

God is building a story that ultimately leads to Christ.

That is why so many of the major covenant promises are tied to particular people, families, nations and moments in history.

God promised Abraham descendants and a nation because He was establishing the line through which Jesus Christ would be born, for the very purpose of redeeming His people, and later extend this very gift to all of us.

God promised David an enduring throne because the promised King would ultimately come through David’s line.

God promised Israel the land because Israel had a particular role within that covenant story.

These were not blank cheques that could simply be transferred from Abraham, Joshua or David to us.

They belonged to particular people within a particular stage of God’s redemptive plan.

That matters because if we skip over that context, we can end up asking Scripture to promise something it never actually promised, and this in turn can lead to disappointment.

Instead of immediately asking,

“How does this apply to me?”

we should sometimes begin with:

“Who was this promise made to, and why?”

That question doesn’t make the Bible less personal.

It helps us understand it more faithfully.

✦ ✦ ✦

The Promises Were Pointing Somewhere

The Old Testament promises were not ultimately about producing a collection of successful individuals. This can be difficult to separate from our own desire for success, particularly when we are waiting for something ourselves.

The account in the Bible (Old Testament) was contributing to a much bigger story, the story of God’s redemption of His people through Christ.

Abraham’s family becomes part of the story through which blessing would ultimately be extended to the world.

David’s promised King points beyond David himself.

The Old Testament covenant story keeps moving forward until we arrive at Jesus.

So when we read these promises as Christians, we shouldn’t simply ask:

“How can I claim this?”

We should ask:

“What was this pointing towards?”

And ultimately, the answer is Christ.

When you start doing this, we get the fullness of what the Bible is for.

✦ ✦ ✦

What Changed With the New Covenant?

Through Jesus, we have been brought into the blessings of the new covenant.

And these promises are not inferior to the Old Testament promises.

They are the fulfilment towards which the earlier story was moving.

In Christ, we have:

Forgiveness of sins

Reconciliation with God

Adoption into God’s family

The indwelling Holy Spirit

God’s presence with us

Wisdom as we seek Him

Ongoing transformation and sanctification

Eternal life

The hope of resurrection

The promise of Christ’s return

These are not second best promises because they don’t guarantee a particular salary, house, business, relationship or career outcome.

They are the promises that reach all the way into eternity.

The decisive promise has already been kept.

Christ came.

Christ died.

Christ was raised.

And those who belong to Him have been brought into a new covenant relationship with God.

✦ ✦ ✦

What About Personal Guidance?

This doesn’t mean God has stopped leading individuals.

The Holy Spirit continues to lead someone towards teaching, mission work, starting a business, adopting a child or changing careers.

God can absolutely direct the details of our lives.

But we need to distinguish personal guidance from covenant promise.

God may lead you somewhere without promising you the outcome you have imagined. He may call you to build something without promising that it will become successful by the world's definition. He may lead you into a particular season without telling you how long it will last.

Joseph didn't know how long his season of suffering would last. David didn't know how long he would wait between being anointed and becoming king. Yet through it all, the Lord was with them.

God’s presence is itself a promise

And that distinction protects us from turning our desires into declarations from God.

We can say:

“I believe God is leading me here.”

without having to say:

“God promised me this will succeed.”

There is freedom in that distinction.

✦ ✦ ✦

Promises Are Not the Same as Principles

There is another point worth making.

The Bible contains promises and principles

We shouldn’t treat all of them in exactly the same way.

God promised Joshua that Israel would enter and possess Canaan.

That was a specific promise to a specific people at a specific point in salvation history.

But Joshua’s courage, obedience, dependence on God and willingness to move forward in faith are principles we can learn from.

The promise belongs to the story.

The principle can shape our lives.

That is an important difference.

We don’t need to claim Joshua’s promise in order to learn from Joshua’s faithfulness. There is a lot to learn from how people behaved in the Bible that ultimately led them towards the promises.

✦ ✦ ✦

So, What Are We Actually Called To Do?

This is where I think the Christian life becomes much more freeing.

The question shifts from:

“What extraordinary promise has God made specifically to me?”

to:

“How can I faithfully steward what God has entrusted to me?”

You can see this emphasis throughout the New Testament.

Jesus’ parables repeatedly speak about stewardship and faithfulness.

In the parable of the talents, the servants are not given identical assignments. They are entrusted with different amounts.

Yet the issue is not comparison.

It is faithfulness.

The question isn’t:

“Why didn’t I receive what they received?”

It is:

“What am I doing with what God has placed in my hands?”

That is a very different way to live.

And perhaps this is why Genesis can feel so incredibly vivid to us. We watch Abraham wait. Joseph suffers through years he could not understand. David is anointed long before he sits on the throne.

We see people making mistakes, waiting, obeying, failing, recovering and continuing to walk with God.

Their stories feel personal because they reveal God’s character and human behaviour. We see their shortcomings and their decisions as a mirror of our own lives.

But we should resist the temptation to make their exact circumstances our blueprint.

Our place in salvation history is different.

We live after Christ’s death and resurrection.

We live in the reality towards which those earlier promises were pointing.

So, the better question isn’t:

“Where is my Abrahamic promise?”

it is:

“How do I faithfully live in light of what God has already promised in Christ?”

✦ ✦ ✦

And What Does That Mean for My Life?

It doesn’t make your work unimportant. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pray boldly for healing, provision, opportunities, growth or direction. In fact, this requires you to be more in touch with the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. To hear your specific calling, your promise, and to do that, you really need to engage in prayer.

It means we hold those things differently.

We can pursue them wholeheartedly without making them the evidence of God’s faithfulness.

We can make wise decisions.

We can work diligently.

We can ask God for direction.

We can follow the leading of the Spirit.

We can steward our gifts.

We can build things.

We can dream.

And we can pray for particular outcomes.

But ultimately, our confidence rests somewhere deeper than whether those outcomes materialise.

Because the greatest promises of God aren’t:

“Your life will turn out exactly as you hoped.”

They are:

“You belong to Me.”

“Your sins are forgiven.”

“My Spirit is with you.”

“You have eternal life.”

“I will raise you up.”

“Christ will return.”

And ultimately:

God is faithful.

That changes the question.

Instead of constantly searching Scripture for a personalised blueprint for our lives, we can learn to faithfully walk with God in the life He has actually given us.

We don’t need to discover our own Abrahamic promise.

We need to live faithfully in light of the promise that has already been fulfilled in Christ.

And whatever He chooses to do with our work, our calling, our businesses, our families and our plans, our ultimate hope is not in the outcome.

Our hope is in Him.

info@wingitwiththought.com

© 2025. All rights reserved.

@wingitwiththought

✉️

@wingitwiththought

Join the community