Therefore, we must distinguish between a proverb and a promise or law. Proverbs are not inflexible laws built into God’s creation, admitting of no exceptions. Neither are they promises which bind God unconditionally to always fulfill what the proverb says is true. Christians have become discouraged when they “claim God’s promises” by holding up to Him some proverbial saying, only then to experience the unusual or exceptional. They conclude that either God let them down or that Scripture is not reliable.