I Will, I Will

 “I Will, I Will”

Psalm 89:1-2 NIV

I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known throughout all generations.  I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.

“I will, I will”.  This phrase came out of my mouth more times that I can count when I was a kid.  Whether it was to my parents, brother, friends, other family, teachers, etc., I remember using this phrase when I was asked to do something.  However, it didn’t stop getting used when I grew older.  I find myself saying still to this day, and even with my kids.  And, wouldn’t you know it, my kids say it, too! 

We say this phrase a lot, don’t we?  No matter where we are or who we are with, we find ourselves giving this so-called promise to others too often.  Often times, we are focused on something that we feel is very important and then we use this phrase to temporarily get the person to stop bugging us.  And it usually follows with very little intention of actually doing what we say we would do. 

It’s easy to use this phrase and not think much of it at all. I find myself hearing my kids say this so much and I think and sometimes actually say out loud, “You always say that, but you aren’t doing anything!”  It’s easy for us to get frustrated with our kids when they say this, but then show no intention of carrying it out. 

Kids and adults alike are bad at saying this and I can’t help but think how we so often treat our relationship with God like this.  We tell God we will do this or say this or treat this person better or make things better in some way.  We tell God so often that we will do something, but then the intention falls away. 

As I consider this phrase, I pray that a different mindset will come alive in us as we live out this passage.  Instead of saying we will and then failing to follow through with things, we should not only follow through, but also make sure we are singing praises to God through our days as well.  This passage is written with intention. “I will” sing.  “I will” make.  “I will” declare.  Those are bold and intentional statements! 

Instead of us using this phrase to blow others off, we need to be reminded it should be a statement of intention to not only follow through, but to be intentional in our faithfulness to serve.

I pray that as we move closer to beginning a New Year, we would consider how we can say “I will, I will” with great intention as we strive to follow God wherever He leads us and do whatever He leads us to do.