Delayed, Not Denied

Joshua 14:⁹ “So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’”

Our first lesson from Caleb is that A Promise Delayed Is Not A Promise Denied. Yesterday, we saw some of the things that cause delays, and we will pick it up from there today. Another thing that can cause a delay is disobedience.

Or it could be a missed season of response, like the children of Israel.There is a season of response for some instructions, a time God will say the land is before you, take it. Many people come up with stories, and they miss their seasons of response. If you read the story of the children of Israel, the very next day, they said they were ready to take the land, but God said no, and they had to wait for forty years. Some delays are because there is a window that has opened, and God says, ‘Take the window’ but you are saying, ‘Lord, don’t You understand, there are giants there.’

Sometimes the delays are communal, some are national. Caleb waited for forty-five years not because of his own unbelief, not because he did not trust God, not because he did not follow God wholeheartedly. But because his brothers, ‘the brothers’, gave a negative report. Sometimes the delays you face are because of your nationality. When there is a delayed promise, you need to take that promise and not let go of it. Our challenge many times is, when there is a delayed promise, we easily let go of the promise. We make excuses, ‘maybe God does not want… maybe it is for, maybe if…’. Just because we do not want God to look bad, we rationalize the promise.

But not Caleb. Caleb said in Joshua 14:^6&9 “…Remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea…” (emphasis added). This was forty-five years after, and Caleb was still holding on to that promise. When Caleb said, “…Moses, the man of God…“, what he was saying in essence is that the promise is legit. The fact that your promise is delayed, does not mean it is not legit. The fact that you have to wait does not mean you will be denied. Joshua 14:⁹ “So that day Moses solemnly promised me…” (emphasis added). The question to you is, what has God promised you? Has God promised that you will be married? In case you do not know, He has because God’s Word says, “God places the solitary, the lonely in families…” (Psalm 68:6). What has God promised you? Has God promised you children? Has God promised you that you will lend to nations and not borrow? Some people are actually meant to be lending to nations, literally bailing nations out financially. What has God promised you? Hold on to it!

Prayer: Father, by faith I take delivery of every delayed and long-standing promise You have made to me, let there be a performance of Your Word, in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen!