The final words of Joshua have been captured and recorded in chapters 23-24 of the book that bears his name. Yesterday I remarked that the first thing he reiterated was that the people were to remain committed to the Book of Instruction. The second reflection he mentioned was that the people should remember that God always keeps His promises. Verse 14 reads, “Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true. Not a single one has failed!” (NLT)
Don’t you wish that could be said about you! I know I do. I shudder to think of all of the promises that I have made in the past half century that I have failed to keep. There were times when I “over promised and under delivered.” And other times I spoke in pride, overestimating myself. I believe I was well intentioned. But that doesn’t matter, does it?
God is not like you and me. He keeps his promises without fail. One thing that I have learned about promises is that promises create expectation. Our God makes promises and keeps promises, inviting us to deeper levels of faith. As a friend of mine once said, “I’m going to keep trusting God’s promises until He breaks one.” That’s not a bad plan.
