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.

Joshua 21:43-45

This is a daunting statement. Not one promised failed! Every promise was fulfilled! Oh, how we long for those statements to be true in our own life. God is the Faithful One who will complete what He started. Philippians 1:6 says, “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

It may be helpful for us to remember that the ones to whom God made these promises weren’t even alive at this point. He started these promises with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who had been dead for more than 400 years. He continued these promises through Moses and a whole generation of Israelites who were not longer living. And it took Joshua’s entire life to reach this point.

In our same-day delivery culture, we often expect God’s promises to happen overnight. Or, if we’re mature Christians, we expect them within a few years. But God’s timing is different than ours. God is a Promise Keeper. He is faithful. We need to become people of patience and perseverance.

“Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up“(Luke 18:1). The name of this story became The Parable of the Persistent Widow. Jesus told his disciples this parable in order to illustrate endurance, persistence, and unyielding determination.

At the conclusion of the parable Jesus assures His hearers that God will hold up His end of the deal but then asks, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?“(Luke 18:8). Jesus was saying that one way we display our faith is through relentless persistence. Faith often looks like unyielding determination. Faith is when we have every reason to give up on a promise from God and instead we press in even more.

What promise are you waiting to be fulfilled?

Don’t give up! Keep going! Keep believing! Keep trusting! Keep praying! Keep pursuing it! God will keep His word.