Promises, Promises, Promises

Quote…I will do it for you…unquote

All you need to do is give me the vote

Right here in our manifesto is that note

When we sat to discuss that’s what we wrote.

Will you remember about the streetlight?

Did you note that corner with the bush?

Have you a record about the road repairs

And also the bumps to slow down the rush?

What do you plan to do about the crime?

‘Cause I cannot sit in my own patio

And enjoy an evening of relaxation

With stray bullets flying high and low.

I hope that you have not forgotten

That the man without work; he can’t get ‘nutten’

And all around things brown and rotten

It is so bad I have reached rock bottom.

I have been canvassing this whole area

And believe you me, I have seen your plight

And you can take me at my word

When we form the government we will put it right.

It’s getting late and I must move on though

In order to meet my quota I must be on the go

However, there’s something I want you to know

I do not make sport and all who know me will tell you so.

If I promise you that I am going to do it

You can guarantee that it will be done

The promises I make I take very seriously

That’s why I am out here in this hot broiling sun.

You sound like a genuine politician

I really believe I could take you at your word

You can be sure that you’ll get my vote

For you are the most sincere that I have ever heard.

Thank you so very much for your vote of confidence

I shall endeavour to meet your every need

Each promise is a debt that I will pay

And for the promised vote I thank you in deed.

  

Some years after during a chance meeting in town

I just want you to know things are still brown

This is the first time since we last spoke

More than four years since you got my vote.

I have called your office time and time again

I have even visited in the sun and in the rain

You were always out but soon would be in

I waited and waited till my patience grew thin.

I eventually stopped; I could see it was no use

I just put it down to the politicians’ abuse

At the time of election they beg for their votes

And by the time they are elected they lose their notes.

Oh they publish their appealing manifestos

With promises and promises and promises for so

But their delivery is appalling, this I know

And you are no different, just move and let me go.

I am so sorry that you misunderstood

But I made those promises intending to make good

But the government before really made a mess

And under the circumstances we’ve done the best.

What we thought we could do in a single term

Was really too much; that we have since learned

So we have decided in term number two

To do all those things that we did not get to do.

Promises, promises, promises are all you’re about

But a lot ‘o we ‘bout here promise to kick you out

And that’s a promise we intend to keep

The word is being passed around even as we speak.

I notice some preachers too join the politicians’ way

Making unfounded promises to enhance their pay

Implying that God will give you loads of cash

Just sow a money seed is the con artist’s thrash.

The records show that many were hoodwinked

That gave out of their need while standing on the brink

Awaiting the promised that never came

Believing they had given in Jesus’ name.

As a consequence there has been much fall out

As time and again persons fall for those preachers’ shout

Mindless of the con artistry in the pulpits about

They pay and pay but still experience drought.

Often it is put down to a lack of trust

When preachers fail to deliver and people fuss

Often too God is blamed when there is no gain

And these preachers get away with another falsified claim.

I want you to hear this now and hear it well

Our God delivers on His promises this I can tell

But first we must understand that this is a fallen world

This is the context I am sure you have heard.

For after our fore parents took of the fruit

That was the beginning of the sin-stained root

Everything was changed even man’s offshoot

Of whom the devil took advantage and began to loot.

But way back in the Bible in Genesis three verse fifteen

God announced a promise right there on the scene

That spoke of a coming Deliverer and Saviour Divine

And promised that he would come in the fullness of time.

Quite a long time passed before it occurred

But God’s timing was exactly as He planned

Wise men understood this promise as shown in the word

It’s time we understand it’s God’s timing not man’s.

Jesus is the fulfilment of the promise God made

When on him the sins of the whole world was laid

Crucified and buried but rising again

He demonstrated the power that makes good his claim.

Come unto him all ye that are heavily laden with sin

And find rest for your soul without and within

This promise is to all who His word would heed

It is he alone who satisfies our greatest need

Money promises that it will do it for you

Fame and popularity, they make this claim too

Power and control proclaim we will take you through

But life’s shipwrecks plainly show that none of these holds true.

For many found that when they had attained unto these

They still lacked something, for a time only they were pleased

And so they kept on searching for that elusive dream

As they were lured into scheme after scheme.

Promises, promises, promises and even more

From the politician to the pulpit, promises galore

Fooled, tricked, ensnared, entrapped, even hoodwinked

I called on all right here right now to begin to think.

The only One who has made good on all that He claimed

Is He who went to the cross and suffered shame and pain

Dying in our stead to bring us eternal gain

He that promised and has delivered, Jesus is His name.

Promises, promises, promises, everyone in God’s word is true

None are exclusive; they are for me and for you

For the richest to the poorest, for the high and the low

Just read the word of God and you’ll be sure to know.

God has never failed to deliver, no not once

Never mind the gainsayers and their useless taunts

He that has promised is faithful to deliver

You’ve tried the politician and the preacher; now try the real Caregiver.

Stewart Russell © 2015