The Pledge Keeper

A pledge serves as a solemn or formal promise, agreement, or guarantee. Its primary purpose depends on the context. For instance, it can be used to legally secure a debt using collateral. Man-kind often will  fail at following through, resulting in the need for pledges. Psychological studies have determined that people need pledges because making a public commitment increases the chance of following through. A pledge can provide certainty because a formal promise sets clear expectations. 

Genesis 38:15-18 New King James Version

15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face. 16 Then he turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

17 And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.”

So she said, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?”

18 Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?”

So she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him.

Genesis 38 depicts the story of Tamar and Judah, Tamar’s father in law. When Judah failed to secure a marriage for Tamar so she could obtain an heir, Tamar resolved to create a plan to deceive him. She hid her identity as a harlot to have intercourse with Judah and took his belongings as a pledge for his payment. Upon discovering that she was pregnant, Judah held her in contempt not realizing she was the harlot he had slept with. It is then that Tamar reveals the belongings he had given to her. 

Genesis 38:25-26New King James Version

25 When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff.”

26 So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he never knew her again.

Judah acknowledges that he did not fulfill his promise to Tamar. Their story is a depiction of the faultiness of mankind. However, there is one that is greater and never wavering in His promises. 

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Amplified Bible

21 Now it is God who establishes and confirms us [in joint fellowship] with you in Christ, and who has anointed us [empowering us with the gifts of the Spirit]; 22 it is He who has also put His seal on us [that is, He has appropriated us and certified us as His] and has given us the [Holy] Spirit in our hearts as a pledge [like a security deposit to guarantee the fulfillment of His promise of eternal life].

If there is ever one promise that we can rely on, it is the one that our heavenly Father has made us. When you receive salvation, He confirms you in joint fellowship in Christ. The Lord calls you His and promises a place in eternity alongside Him. And as a pledge, the Lord gives us the Holy Spirit. He sent a Helper in our hearts to teach us all things and to bring to remembrance all things that He imparts into us (John 14:26). This Help, serves as a guarantee of the fulfillment of His promise of eternal life. 

Mankind may disappoint and never bring commitments to completion. However, that is not the nature of our Father. Choose today to serve the Lord with all your heart, a God whose promises will never be rendered as unfulfilled.