These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Hebrews 11:39-40 

God fulfills his promises in surprising and unexpected ways. 

He told Abraham to leave his homeland and travel to a land that he would one day occupy as his inheritance. But Abraham wandered that land his whole life and the only portion he ever owned was the field in which he was buried. Yet his descendants went on to occupy the land and lay claim to that inheritance even today. 

God promised Abraham that he would make of him a great nation; that his children would be as many as the sands of the sea and the stars in the sky… But Abraham was 99 years old and still childless. His wife Sarah laughed at the prospect of getting pregnant at such an advanced age after a lifetime of infertility. Yet Abraham had a son and his descendants became a world power. Even today the Jewish people are influential around the world. 

God promised Israel that he would send them a Deliverer. His son would be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” So he sent them a baby who was born of a peasant woman, raised in obscurity and died as a criminal. Yet Jesus established his Kingdom and is coming again to rule in power. 

So does God keep his promises? 
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The story is told of a farmer in Iowa in 1908. He had two teenage sons who were soon to graduate from high school. Both boys wanted to go to college, but the father only had funds to send one of them. So the eldest son went to college, while the younger son stayed home to help on the family farm. 
“Work for me for 4 years” his father promised, “and besides your pay, at the end of four years I’ll buy you the finest horse and carriage in the county.” 

And so an agreement was struck. 

Four years passed and the day arrived when the son knew that his father would make good on his promise. After breakfast he would open the front door and there in the drive would be the finest horse and carriage that money could buy. For three years crops had been strong and the farm had been successful. The son had long imagined what the horse and carriage might look like. 

Preparations were completed and the moment came. The family gathered and the son dramatically threw open the door and strode out onto the porch. There sitting in the driveway, gleaming in the brilliant sunlight was a brand new Model T Ford. The son was stunned. 

Did the father fulfill his promise? 
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God always keeps his promises. Not only does he keep them, he exceeds them. The end may be surprising and is often unexpected, but his word remains true. As one Bible scholar put it, “God hyper-fulfills his promises.” 

So while you wait on God, remember that God has something “better for us.” 

Can you trust him for that?