Something from ... Martin Luther re: God's promises, threats, and fulfillment of them.

          Here is something from Martin Luther.  I could make additional commentary, but this speaks for itself.

          “One must be careful to hold fast to the fact that God makes promises and defers the things promised, and that He tries us with a scarcity of available things in order to instruct us in faith in the promise and in order that this faith may be strengthened and may learn to believe God not only in prosperous times, when things are available, but also in adversity, when things are lacking. …
          “But it is the chief subject of all Holy Scripture to know and understand God when He makes a promise. For He helps and bring support even with the actual realization of His promise and when it is fulfilled; but before this He disciplines faith in the promise by means of a lack of things of which we are in need. He does this in order that we may learn to trust Him and not to tempt Him.
          …
          “But the flesh is so smug and evil that it not only distrusts the promises but also despises the threats. For the threats, too, are delayed. Therefore the flesh does not believe God when He threatens. And when those despisers and irrational people hear that a judgment against sin remains for that Day, they say: ‘Perhaps what you are threatening is true. I wish I had money to count in the meantime.’ God wants His threats to be feared and His promises to be awaited. But this is impossible except by faith.
          “For the world cares about neither of these things, no more, in fact, than if a goose were hissing at it. For God is patient and slow in carrying out both His promises and His threats. But he does not lie, and He makes up for that slowness either with the severity of the punishment or with the large number and the greatness of His blessings. Finally He does come, and comes for sure.” (Martin Luther. Luther’s Works: American Edition, Volume 9 [Lectures on Genesis, chapters 45-50]. Pages 201-202)