“Not one promise has failed!”
Scripture reading for March 7th: Joshua 18-21
“So the Lord gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them, the Lord handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” (Joshua 21:43-45)
God is faithful to His people! I have lived nearly 62 years and found this to be true personally. Our family has been through a number of trials during our journey here on earth. When we farmed, we experienced a severe drought in 1974 and harvested very little. We had been farming only a few years and really could not stand a crop failure. But God brought us through! We had a fire in 1975 that destroyed a large hog building and a large number of animals. It was the only building that was not listed on the insurance policy! God brought us through again! In 1976 we had a tornado strike our farm. It destroyed barns, cattle sheds, machine sheds and trees on both sides of our house. We all survived and God took us through! In 1981 a severe economic crisis hit agriculture as a result of government policies and high interest rates. Many farmers lost their farms and we were deeply in debt, too. God showed us a plan and brought us through again! In 2001, we were 2 miles from the center of a 6.9 earthquake that shook our house, church and city in Olympia, Washington. God brought us through again! I could go on, but I am sure you are understanding my point about God’s faithfulness!
In today’s reading, Joshua is dividing the land because the war in Canaan to possess the land is essentially over. (Joshua 18:2) It took seven years of fighting and following God’s instructions. Not one enemy could stand up against them when they were obedient! Not one promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ever failed! God’s Word is a proven commodity. When everything else in the world is shaking and the worst appears to have happened, God is faithful and His Word is true!
“Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as He has promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He gave through his servant Moses.” 1st Kings 8:56
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.” Matthew 24:35
3 thoughts on ““Not one promise has failed!””
Comments are closed.
What a wonderfully encouraging word today. Not one of His promises has failed. God is MORE than faithful.
Joy Herzog
Question: Pastor, I am reading the ESV One Year Bible, so I am quite a bit behind your Old Testament reading schedule,in Numbers 6, but I had a question about the Nazarite vow . Why is it that the those who took a Nazarite vow were not allowed to even eat grapes, cut their hair, etc. and what was the purpose of this vow? I can see that they were setting themselves aside for God, a sanctifying holy act, but don’t understand where it falls in the Jewish worship. One part even said that when their hair was cut,(I think at the end of the period of the vow) that they would wave it before the Lord as a wave offering. Didn’t Jesus take a Nazarite vow? Did he take it for life? I read in the NASB Study Bible that some people took the vow for life. JOY
Dear Joy, The question you ask is a good one. Grapes and wine symbolized natural joy. The one under this particular vow was to find their joy in God alone (Habakkuk 3:17-18) (Philippians 3:1, 4:4,10) and this abstention from grapes and grape products symbolized this. The hair cut off was a reproach for a man (1st Corinthians 11:14) and symbolized willingness to suffer for identification with the Lord. These vows could be for as short as 30 days or a perpetual vow. Men or women could voluntarily take this vow and follow through. Only three examples of permanent Nazarite vows are in Scripture–Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist. Jesus Christ fulfilled the type of this vow by being perfectly set apart to God, but he was a Nazarene–from the city of Nazareth–not a Nazarite! We find no record of this vow in Jesus’ life. He ate and drank–presumably from grapes. He touched several dead bodies–and raised them! He was not set apart as a Nazarite in the sense of perfectly fulfilling these scriptures or having his parents consciously make this vow on his behalf. This is my understanding–I am open to learn more if someone knows more about this. In His Love, P. John