_NO FAILURE OF GOD'S PROMISE._
JOSHUA xxi. 43-45.
The historian has reached a point where he may stand still and look
back. One look is comparatively limited; another reaches very far. The
immediate survey extends only over the last few years; the remote
embraces centuries, and goes back to the time of Abraham.
The historian sees the venerable patriarch of the nation among his
flocks and herds in Ur of the Chaldees; receiving there a Divine
summons to remove to an unknown land; obeying the call, tarrying at
Haran, then traversing the desert, and crossing the Jordan. At
Shechem, at Bethel, at Mamre, and at Beersheba, he perceives him
listening to the Divine voice that promises that, stranger and pilgrim
though he was, the Lord would give his posterity all that land; that
he would bless those that blessed him, and curse those that cursed
him; and that in him and in his seed all the nations of the earth
should be blessed.
For one hundred long years Abraham had wandered over the country
without so much as a house or homestead in it. Isaac had come after
him, living the same pilgrim life. Jacob, with a much more stirring
and troubled life, had in his old age gone down to Joseph in Egypt,
leaving but one field in the country which he could call his own.
Then came the long centuries of Egyptian bondage. At last the Divine
call is heard to leave Egypt, but after this, forty long years have
still to be spent in the wilderness. Then Moses, the great leader of
the people, dies--dies at the very time when he is apparently most
needed, just at the very crisis of Israel's history.
But Joshua comes in Moses' room, and the Lord is with Joshua; He
rewards his faith and gives him victory over all his enemies. And now
at last comes the fulfilment of the promises to the fathers, hoary
with age, and seemingly long forgotten. The bill has at last matured
and fallen due. After so many generations, it might be thought that it
would have been enough to discharge the main substance of the
obligation or that some compromise might have been proposed reducing
the claim. After having lain long out of their money, creditors are
usually ready to accept a composition. But this was not God's method
of settlement. During the whole period of Joshua's leadership, God had
been doing nothing but discharging old obligations. Not one word of
the original bill had been obliterated; not one item had been allowed
to lapse through time. East and west and north and south He had been
giving what He had promised to give. And now, as the transaction comes
to an end, it is seen that nothing has been omitted or forgotten.
"There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken
concerning Israel; all came to pass." He proved Himself, as Moses had
said, "the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them
that love Him, and keep His commandments to a thousand generations."
Three gifts are specified which God bestowed on Israel: possession,
rest, and victory. First, He gave them the land which He had sworn to
give unto their fathers, and they possessed it; next, He gave them
rest round about, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers;
and, lastly, He gave them victory over all their enemies. "He
satisfied the longing soul, and filled the hungry soul with goodness."
He brought His bride to her home, and surrounded her with comforts.
And had the bride only been as faithful to her obligations as the
Divine bridegroom, it might have been said that
"Time had run back, and fetched the age of gold."
But, it may perhaps be said,--this is only the historian's view of the
matter, and it is hardly in accordance with facts. Are we not told
that, at an early period, a colony of the tribe of Dan had to go
elsewhere in search of land, because they were too hampered in the
allotment they had received? And, in the beginning of Judges, are we
not told that after the death of Joshua, Judah and Simeon had a
desperate tussle with Canaanites and Perizzites who were still in
their territories, and that in Bezek alone there were slain of them
ten thousand men? And is not the whole of the first chapter of Judges
a record of the relations of Israel in various places to the original
inhabitants, from which it appears that very many of the Canaanites
continued to dwell in the land? Surely this was not what God's promise
to the fathers was fitted to convey. Had not God promised that He
would "drive out" the seven nations, and give the seed of Abraham
possession of the whole? How then could His word be said to be
implemented when so many of the original inhabitants remained? And,
in particular, how could the historian of Joshua say so explicitly
that "there failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had
spoken unto the house of Israel."
In answer to this objection it is to be remarked that God had never
promised to give the people full possession of the land _save through
their own exertions made in dependence on Him_. Their possessions were
not to fall into their hands as the manna fell in the wilderness or as
the water gushed from the rock. The seven nations were not to rush
from before them the moment they crossed the Jordan. God always meant
that they were to be His instruments for clearing the country. Now,
that clearance was evidently designed to be effected in two ways.
First, under Joshua, a general encounter with the former possessors
was to take place, their confederacies were to be shattered, their
spirit was to be broken, and to a certain extent their lands were to
be set free. But beyond this, there was to be a further process of
clearing out. When each tribe was settled in its lot, it was to
address itself, in detail, to the task of dispossessing such
Canaanites as yet lingered there. It might not be expedient that all
should be engaged in this task together, for this would necessarily
interfere with the ordinary operations of agriculture. It was judged
better that it should be done piecemeal, and therefore God was asked
to say which of the tribes ought to begin it. Judah was named, and
Judah aided by Simeon did his work well, and set a good example to the
rest. But the other tribes did not act with Judah's spirit, and
therefore they did not enjoy his reward. The testimony of the
historian is, that nothing failed of any good thing which _the Lord_
_had spoken_ unto the house of Israel. The Lord faithfully performed
every part of His obligation. He did not add Israel's obligations to
His own, and discharge them too, when they were remiss concerning
them. The ultimate result of the whole business was, that trouble
befell Israel, inasmuch as he neglected his obligations, while the
Lord faithfully performed every one of His. Time therefore did not run
back and fetch the age of gold. Israel did not enjoy all the
possessions that had been allotted to him. Canaanites remained in the
country to torment him like thorns in his sides. But this was Israel's
fault, not God's. Though you were to give a lazy farmer the finest
farm in the country, you could not make him prosperous if he neglected
his fields and idled away the time that should be spent in continuous
labour. You cannot keep a man in health if he breathes unwholesome air
or drinks water poisoned with putrid matter. No more could Israel be
wholly prosperous if he allowed Canaanites to settle quietly at his
side. If he had roused himself, and attacked them with courage and in
faith, God would have made him to prevail. But, since he preferred
ease and quiet to the painfulness of duty, God left him to reap as he
had sowed, and suffer the consequences of his neglect. He had seldom
long periods of prosperity, and often he had very bitter experiences
of calamity and distress.
Certainly God had furnished His people with the materials for a happy
and prosperous life, if only they had used them aright. There was
first the element of possessions. They had comfortable homes and all
the requisites of a comfortable life. It is most true that "a man's
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he
possesseth." But moderate possessions are one element, though not the
chief or most essential of human prosperity. Possessions, however rich
or manifold, in connection with a discontented temper, an ungodly
spirit, or a selfish nature, can bring no genuine pleasure. In
addition to possessions, the Lord had given Israel rest. Their enemies
were not disposed to attack them even when dwelling by their side.
True it is that the rest into which Joshua brought them was not the
true, the ultimate rest. If Joshua had given them that rest, the Holy
Spirit would not have spoken of a rest that was still to come (Heb.
iv. 8). But external rest, like external possessions though not all,
was one contribution towards prosperity. Moreover, none of their
enemies had been able to stand before them; in every encounter that
had yet taken place the Lord had delivered them into their hand.
This was a blessed presage for the future. Whatever encounters might
yet remain, they might count on the same result, if they lifted up
their eyes to God. Their life in the future would not be without toil,
without anxiety, without danger. But if they looked to Him and made
the requisite efforts, God was ready to bless their toil, He was able
to overcome their anxieties, He was sure as in the past to subdue
their enemies. The gifts that God had conferred on them, and the
materials of enjoyment with which He had surrounded them, were not
designed to make them independent, as if they could now do everything
for themselves. God's purpose was the very reverse. He wished to keep
up the sense of dependence on Him, and to encourage at every turn the
habit that seeks unto God, and goes to Him for help.
For this, after all, is the great lesson for all human beings. The
great thing for us all is to keep up a living connection with God, so
that our whole nature shall be replenished out of His fulness, and
purified and elevated by His Divine influence. Whatever draws us to
God draws us to the fountain of all that is best and purest and
noblest. God would have conferred but a poor blessing on Israel if He
had just settled them in the land, and then left them to themselves,
without any occasion or inducement to fellowship with Him. The
inducements to resort to Him which they were to be continually under
were by far the most valuable part of what God now conferred upon
them. The certainty that all would go wrong, that their possessions
would be invaded and their rest disturbed, and that their enemies
would prove victorious unless they sought continually to their God,
fostered the most precious of all habits--that drawing near to God
which brings with it all spiritual blessing.
"Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross
That raiseth me,
Still all my song would be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!"
There is no small amount of instruction to be drawn by all of us from
this record of Israel's experience.
First, it is of supreme importance for us all to have our hearts
firmly established in the conviction of the faithfulness of God. It
should be our habit to regard this as an attribute on which we not
only may, but must rely. To ascribe to God any laxity as to His word
or promises were to cast a fearful imputation on His holy nature.
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away."
"He is not a man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should
repent." Nothing can be conceived that could make it better to God to
break His word than to keep it. This is the root of all religion; it
is the basis of faith, the true ground of trust. To train our minds to
habitual reliance on all that God has said, is one of the most vital
and blessed exercises of spiritual religion. It is alike honouring to
God and beneficial to ourselves. To search out from the body of
Scripture the promises of God; to fasten our attention on them one by
one; and to exercise our minds on the thought that in Christ Jesus
they are yea, and in Him Amen, is a most blessed help to spiritual
stability and spiritual growth. And in our prayers there is nothing
more fitted to give us confidence than to plead in this spirit the
promises that God has made. No plea is more powerful than the
Psalmist's--"Remember Thy word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast
caused me to hope." How many sadly perplexed men have found rest from
the words: "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He
shall bring it to pass." "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also
will do it."
But secondly, we may learn from this passage that, wherever the
promises of God _seem_ to fail, the fault is not His, but ours. On the
one hand, we are taught clearly that delay is not failure, and on the
other that where there does seem to be failure there is none really on
the part of God. At least five-and-twenty long years elapsed between
God's first promise to Abraham and the birth of Isaac. Four hundred
years were to be spent by the chosen seed in bondage in Egypt. And
even after the deliverance from Egypt there came the sojourn in the
wilderness of other forty years. Yet God was faithful all the time.
How often we need to recall the text, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day! "Though the
vision tarry," do not give it up in despair, but "wait for it" (Hab.
ii. 3).
Perhaps it is in the matter of answers to prayer that we are most
liable to the temptation that God forgets His promises. Have we not
the most explicit and abundant promises that prayer will be answered?
Yet how many have prayed, and seemingly prayed in vain! Nay, does not
the very opposite of what we pray for often come? We entreat God to
spare a beloved life; that life is taken away. We pray for victory
over temptation; the temptation seems to acquire a redoubled force. We
pray for success in business; the clouds seem to thicken the more. We
ask, "Has God forgotten to be gracious? Is His mercy clean gone for
ever? Does His promise fail for evermore?" Nay, let us rally our
faith. "Then I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the
years of the right hand of the Most High" (Psalm lxxvii. 10). If my
prayer was not answered, it was not God's fault. It may be that, like
Israel, I failed in my part. I may have been laying the whole burden
on God, and omitting something that it fell to me to do. I may have
been asking for something that would not have been for my good or for
God's glory. I may have failed in that spirit of affectionate trust
which is a requisite of acceptable prayer. Let us remember that God
knows what things we have need of before we ask Him. And God is
infinitely kind and willing to bless us. What He longs for on our part
is the spirit of filial trust. What He values prayer for is that it is
the channel of this spirit. We can never say that God disregards
prayer unless we can say that we approached Him, and spoke to Him
like confiding children dealing with a loving father, and He cast us
off. But how often do we go to the footstool half hoping, half
doubting, instead of going in the full conviction,--"Our gracious
Father is sure to hear us; and if He do not give us the precise thing
we ask, He is sure to give us something better." Let prayer ever be
the outcome of a profound belief in the infinite love of God, and His
constant readiness to bless us in Christ; let it be the communing of a
child with his father; and let it never be darkened by a shade of
suspicion that the Hearer of prayer will not be faithful to His word.
It is the happy experience both of individuals and the Church to have
occasional periods of fulfilment--it may be after long periods of
expectation and trial. The patriarch Job had a terrible time of trial,
when God seemed so untrue to His promises that he was sometimes on the
very edge of blaspheming His name. But a time of fulfilment came at
last, and through all the mystery of the past Job at length saw "the
end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy"
(James v. 11). The aged Simeon and the aged Anna in the temple had
waited long, but the hour came at last when all that they had been
looking for was accomplished, and with a feeling of perfect
satisfaction they could sing their "Nunc dimittis." The souls under
the altar of them that were slain for the word of God and for the
testimony which they held, when they groaned out their sad "How long?"
had still to wait a little season; but the time came when, clothed in
white robes and with palms in their hands, they attained complete
satisfaction, crying with a loud voice, "Salvation to our God that
sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb" (Rev. vi. 10, vii. 10). And in
more recent times there have been eras of fulfilment and
corresponding rejoicing. When St. Augustine, after year upon year of
restless tossing, at length found pardon and peace in Christ; when
Columbus, after perils and privations innumerable, at length saw the
dim coast which he had often prayed to behold; when Wilberforce heard
the slave trade declared an illegal traffic, and Fowell Buxton saw the
last fetter struck from the slave in the dominions of Great Britain;
when Lord Shaftesbury found the ten hours factory bill turned into
law; or when the friends of the slave learned that the President of
the United States had signed the proclamation which set four millions
at liberty--the old experience of Joshua's days seemed to be repeated,
and gratitude to Him who had failed in no good thing was the one
feeling that filled the heart. Sometimes the death-bed affords a
retrospect that kindles the same emotion. The dying man looks along
the way by which he has been led, and, with the walls of the New
Jerusalem gleaming before him, he owns that he has been conducted by
the right way to the city of habitation. The objects of earth and
heaven are seen by him in a truer light. Valuations are made more
accurately on the margin of eternity. The things that have been shaken
and that have perished--of how little value are they seen to be,
compared to the things that cannot be shaken! The loving purpose of
Divine providence in shattering so many hopes, in defeating so many
projects, in inflicting so much pain, is clearly apprehended. The
heart is grieved that it was so near charging God foolishly when His
purpose was really so merciful and so kind. The bright era of
fulfilment is at hand; and even already, while the day is only
dawning, the soul can give forth its testimony that "no good thing has
failed of all that the Lord hath spoken."
And then at last will come the end of the mystery. The Lord shall send
His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather
together His elect from the four winds, from the one end of heaven to
the other. On the sea of glass mingled with fire they take their
stand, having the harps of God, and sing the song of Moses, the
servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvellous are
Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of
saints." What a scene and what a sensation! What joy in entering on
possession of the Promised Land, in experiencing the rest of the
redeemed, and in the consciousness that not a single enemy survives to
annoy! What delight in the harmonious working of the new nature, in
the free and happy play of all its faculties and feelings, and in the
conscious presence of a God and Saviour to whose image you have been
thoroughly conformed! The last shadow that dimmed your vision on earth
shall have fled away; the last vestige of complaint of your earthly
lot shall have vanished. Whatever you may have thought once, no other
feeling will now occupy your heart but gratitude to Him who has not
only not failed to fulfil all His promises, but has done in you
exceeding abundantly above all that ye could ask or think!