Joshua 21:43-45 “So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” This episode is about God's promises and how he always keeps them.
Shared Promises
Joshua 21:43-45 “So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”
There are several things I like in this passage. The first is that the passage says, “The Lord gave Israel all the land that he had sworn to give their ancestors.” If you have not read about why the original Israelites couldn’t enter the promised land you can find it in Numbers 13 & 14. I will summarize it for you. God promised to lead the Israelites to the promised land. A land flowing with milk and honey.
God asked Moses to send some men out to scout the promised land. Numbers 13:17-20 “ When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
When the scouts came back they brought fruit from the promised land and they reported that the land was flowing with milk and honey. However, then they said that the people there are very powerful and the cities are fortified. They were saying that they can’t go take that land because they weren’t strong enough. Caleb & Joshua, tried to silence them and said they should go fight. They reminded everyone that God was one their side and with God you can’t loose. However, the other scouts were scared and they convinced the rest of the Israelites to be too afraid as well.
God was tired of these people, who He saved from slavery and oppression in Egypt, complaining and not trusting Him. He asked Moses how long they were going to refuse to believe Him. He wanted to strike them all down with a plague, but Moses explained that wouldn’t be good as He had saved them from Egypt. Moses asked for forgiveness for the people. God granted forgiveness but said that because they saw His signs and His Glory and still disobeyed Him so often, they would not get to see the promised land. They would wander in the wilderness for 40 years until everyone 20 years or older had passed away.
Their ancestors questioned God and His plan, so they were not allowed to go into the promised land. They did not have faith that God would be able to defeat the people living in the land He promised them. And yet as we talked about before, God always keeps his promises. So, even though the older generation did not get to go into the promised land because of their lack of trust in God, their children were still able to go into the promised land.
Another promise that he made to their ancestors was that they would have rest on every side of them. It says, “Not one of the enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands.” This would be awesome. How great would it be for all of your enemies to be delivered into your hands? The scouts went out and saw that the people who were currently living in the promised land looked powerful. Then they talked about all the surrounding towns and how intimidating those people were as well. They did not trust in the Lord’s promise. However, as I have said before and will keep saying, God always keeps His promises. So, if God says that He will give you the promised land, He will. There won’t be anything that can stop Him. If God says He will deliver up all of your enemies into your hands, He will. God helped the Israelites take the promised land and then he helped them defeat all of their enemies.
I wonder how many of my ancestors’ promises I am benefitting from? I am sure my parents and grandparents have prayed for their children and grandchildren. I am benefiting from the answers to those prayers, even though I did not do the asking. Also, all of the promises in the Bible are for me as well as for you. God did not just make those promises to the people that lived back then. Those promises are for us too. If you look through the Bible it is full of promises. It is hard to imagine that those promises could be for us also. However, it says in Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” If Jesus was promising things to his followers back then, He is promising them to us now as well.
The last line in this verse is something that seems to keep coming up and is something that I think God really wants us to understand. “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”
I think God keeps saying it because He wants us to know that it is true. God is faithful. I think that we all know this with our brain, but do we know it with our hearts? Do we know that He will always come through? I was just thinking that it might be helpful to list some of God’s promises. If we know what some of His promises are we can see that He always keeps them. In Matthew 11:28 the Lord promises, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” If you are weary and burdened you can go tot he Lord and He will give you rest. That is a promise. Have you already done this before? Was He there for you? Did you even know that was a promise? Another great promise is Jeremiah 29:11, “For I now the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” What about Isaiah 40:31, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” God is promising to renew the strength of those that hope in Him. Have you felt this renewed strength before? I had not thought of it before but looking back I always had renewed strength when I was hopeful. Every time one of my parenting plans failed, I would create a new one, I would have hope that it would work, and I would definitely feel a renewed strength. God is so amazing! I will put a link to this article I found online that is titled God’s Promises: 50 Powerful Bible Promises To Build Your Faith. I encourage you to take a look at these promises and see how many of them God has already fulfilled in your life.
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, we thank you for always fulfilling your promises. Even if you didn’t feel the original Israelites deserved the promise land you still fulfilled the promise for their children. Lord, you are so just and so faithful. We definitely don’t deserve you and we are so grateful that you love us anyway. We are so grateful that you shower us with grace and forgiveness. Lord, we pray that you fortify our faith so we can trust and believe in all that you do. Lord, we love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.