Today’s Bible Reading: JOSHUA 19:49-21:45, 1 CHRONICLES 6:54-81
Joshua 21:45
Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
We live in a world of broken promises. It is filled with unkept words and unfulfilled commitments. It is littered with vows that have been violated and agreements that have been broken. It’s hard to trust these days. A handshake used to be a man’s bond. It was an assurance that it would happen. It was a commitment to be carry it out. But it is no longer that way. Many marriages fail. Businesses go bust. Projects lie incomplete. Dreams are shattered and desires are destroyed. We are leery of guarantees, we are cautious of commitments and we are skeptical of assurances. We have all been burned. We have encountered broken promises. Bewildered, we find it hard to trust again.
But God is not like what we have experienced. His word is true, His guarantee is sure and His promises are kept. They will not fail or falter. They are good. He will do what He says. He will fulfill what He foretells. You can trust Him.
Here the text recounts the Lord’s action in keeping His promises. One of them was a promise He had made many years earlier to Abraham (Gen 13:15). He had promised to give Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites, the land of Canaan (Gen 17:8).The commitment that He made was the commitment that He kept. His action matched His assertions. His words did not waver. All He said, He did. All He had promised to Israel, He fulfilled. God keeps His promises. They “all come to pass”.
It is estimated that the time period from God’s promise given to Abraham to its’ fulfilled was approximately 690 years (Josh 1:2-3). It seems relatively long in our fast pace impatient environment, but it is not for God. He acts according to His divine plan and purpose. His view is different from our vantage point. He sees with eternal eyes. We expect expediency. But, an immediate response to a promise that we might “claim” may not be “according to the purpose of him who works all things according to counsel of his will’ (Eph 1:11). Abraham never saw God’s promise fulfilled in His lifetime, but it was eventually. All came to pass! We cannot discount God for not doing things on our schedule. All will come to pass in His time not ours.
There is another profound promise that is prolific throughout the pages of scripture. It is the promise of the Messiah. It is the promise of the coming of our Redeemer and our deliverer. Over 300 promises were proclaimed announcing the coming of Jesus. The 1st of these dates back to the Garden of Eden when God prophecies to serpent that Eve’s “offspring will bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15). Satan would strike a blow against the Savior, but the Savior would slay the serpent. The Savior would squash the schemes of Satan. Ironically, God waited 4,000 years to fulfill this promise, but He finally do through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. God may delay, but He will do what He promises.
We can look to the past to have hope in the future. Our trust in Him is built upon His trustworthiness toward them. We see trust kept. Not one of His “good promises’ failed and not one of His promises will fail. All came to pass and all will come to pass. He did it then and He will do it now. His character is unchanging and His commitments unwavering. He has proven Himself trustworthy in the past and we can trust Him in our present.
So, we need to learn of His promises. We must meditate on them and memorize them. We should latch on to them, lean on them and let them guide our steps. We ought to let them guard our heart. You can count on Him to carry out what He commits to do. You can trust Him! You won’t be disappointed. All of His approximately 8,000 promises will come to pass!
Today linger on His promises. Commit to mark them, meditate on them and memorize them as you come across them in your reading. Thank the Lord that as He promised He will do. Ask Him to help you patiently wait for what He will do. Praise Him that all He has promised will come to pass.
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