The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them" (Exodus 2:23b-25). My friend Robert Wong suffered for fifteen years in a Communist prison. Promises of human beings helped too. Broken promises disappoint and then anger us. In reality, the entire Old Testament is about promises. We may not suffer in a Chinese prison like Robert Wong, but life can be tough. PROMISES TO ABRAHAM To really understand God's promises in the Old Testament, we must return to God's big promises to Abraham. God told Abraham to leave his home territory and go to a new land (Genesis 12:1). I will make you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All people on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:2, 3). This may not sound all that great to us, but think of it! I cannot imagine any other promises that could have pleased Abraham more. If God would come to us now, the promises would probably be framed a bit differently. What God promises is always way beyond what we could do ourselves. PROMISES REPEATED Has anyone ever made a promise to you once and then forgotten it? God repeats this promise to Abraham at least five times (Genesis 13:16; 15:5; 17:2, 4,16; 22:17). Things looked bleak for quite a while. When the Old Testament declares that "God remembered," it doesn't mean that He had forgotten. THE PROMISES IN EXODUS All this leads us up to Exodus and our key texts for this lesson. Even more amazing is that they were "fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7). How long can you remember your promises? The story isn't over yet. The very fact that the people of Israel greatly multiply makes Egypt and its ruler nervous. The entire story of God's deliverance in Exodus and in the entire Old Testament is there because God is a promise keeper. Never does it happen easily. Stay with us in this course as we see the fascinating way God does this. God's promises can also keep you going.