Promises that Come to Pass: Joshua 21:45
“Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.”
—Joshua 21:45 (NASB)
Background
In Joshua 21:45, Joshua reflects on how the Lord was faithful to His promises over the years. Throughout all the time in the wilderness, passing through the Red Sea, crossing the Jordan, and conquering their enemies, God was always faithful.
Exposition
The Lord keeps His promises. Throughout time, God continues to show His redemptive plan through His promises. Every promise that God gave Joshua came to pass. Joshua 21:45 reminds us of Joshua and Caleb’s report to Moses in Numbers 13. When the other spies returned, Joshua and Caleb were the only ones that wanted to go and take the land, solely because God promised it to them. They trusted God’s promises.
David wrote in Psalm 55:22, “Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken” (NASB).
Pursuing a godly life is rewarding. Ultimately, we will experience this reward at the finish line (in heaven), but we will experience the faithfulness of His promises along the journey.
Joshua and the Israelites experienced so much, and each time they could come back to the foundation of God’s promises. They could take root in the sustenance that God gave them by the years they walked with Him. Joshua held on to the promise of God that he was given many years before and he saw it come to fruition.
God is always clear in the direction that He gives His people. He isn’t hiding from us or running in the opposite direction. He is faithful and desires for us to be dependent on Him. The Israelites saw the promises of God all around them and they could look back to His faithfulness. This is what every believer should do in times of struggle or discouragement.
Application
When I was just a few years into vocational ministry, the Lord called me to move four states away from where I was currently serving. This was the first time that I moved after becoming a father. We were able to live relatively close to my family and my wife’s family. This was a move that my wife and I prayed about and felt that the Lord was clear in the direction He had for our family.
What ended up being a seven-day trip, including travel, caused us to question if God was calling our family to this new church. Within those seven days the following happened:
- My daughter and I became ill. She bounced back quickly while my illness lingered the whole trip.
- A traffic accident delayed our travel within the first hour on the road. We were delayed over two hours.
- We had four flats on four different tires within those seven days.
It seemed like our circumstances were not aligning with what we felt God was calling our family to do. We remained faithful and continued to believe God was in control of the direction our family was going. Today my wife and I can look back on that trip and laugh, just a little, but ultimately thank God for being so faithful.
We encounter this same faithfulness every day. We will never reach a point in our relationship with God where we will only look to the past to see God’s faithfulness. This is because He continues to be faithful in our present and will continue to be faithful in our future.
Don Scrivener lives and serves in Lufkin, Texas, with his wife, Mary Martha, and children, Rani, Andrew, Jonas, and James Walter. Don is the associate pastor to students at Denman Avenue Baptist Church in Lufkin. He has been in student ministry for 15 years and loves to help students find their kingdom purpose.
