Does God always keep His promises?
It’s a question most of us ask at some point—usually in the middle of a long wait, a hard disappointment, or a plan that didn’t unfold the way we hoped.
We know what Scripture says.
We’ve sung the songs,
heard the sermons,
underlined the verses.
And still… there are moments when we look around at our lives and wonder if we missed something—or worse, if God changed His mind.
Maybe you’re in that place right now.
Where the thing you were believing for still hasn’t come to pass.
Where the “promise” feels like a faint memory.
Where hope feels harder to hold.
If that’s you, I want to gently reassure you: you’re not alone—and you’re not off track.
In this post, we’re going to take an honest look at:
what God’s promises actually are,
why they sometimes feel out of reach,
and what it means to trust Him anyway.
God Always Keeps His Promises. But Not Always on Our Timeline.
We often expect God’s promises to unfold in neat, logical steps.
We pray,
we wait,
we believe…
and we quietly set a mental deadline.
But God isn’t bound by our clocks.
Scripture reminds us:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness” — 2 Peter 3:9
And again God says,
“At the right time, I, the Lord, will make it happen.” — Isaiah 60:22
Not “if” but “when.”
Not according to your schedule, but His.
That gap between the promise and the fulfillment?
It’s often longer than we imagined—and more stretching than we’d prefer.
But it’s not wasted time.
It’s formative time.
Time where God is preparing you to carry what He’s preparing to give.
Just think of Abraham and Sarah.
God promised them a son, but it took twenty-five years for Isaac to arrive.
They had moments of doubt.
They tried to take matters into their own hands.
But even in their detours, God didn’t revoke His promise—He fulfilled it.
Maybe you can relate.
Maybe you’ve been holding on to a word God spoke long ago—and the waiting has worn you down.
You’ve done all the “right things,” but the outcome still hasn’t arrived.
Can I gently remind you: delay is not denial.
And slow doesn’t mean forgotten.
God sees the whole picture.
And while you’re watching the clock,
He’s watching your heart—
shaping it,
softening it,
strengthening it.
The promise still stands.
He hasn’t forgotten you.
God’s Promises Don’t Always Look the Way You Expected
Sometimes the biggest confusion in our faith isn’t if God will come through, but how.
We pray for healing, and the sickness lingers.
We ask for provision, and the bills still pile up.
We step out in faith toward the dream He placed in our hearts… and the path looks nothing like we pictured.
And that’s the thing…
God’s promises are always fulfilled—
but rarely in the packaging we expected.
Look at Abraham.
God promised him the land.
All of it.
But for much of his life, Abraham lived in tents, on land that technically wasn’t even his.
He walked through the promise while it still looked like a maybe.
He died never seeing the full inheritance—but still believing (Hebrews 11:13).
That’s hard. Because we like neat, finished stories. We want fulfillment that feels like fulfillment.
But God’s version of “kept promise” often has more layers than we thought.
It might come through a different route.
It might look smaller in the moment, but stretch farther than you imagined.
It might be wrapped in struggle—and still be right on time.
You prayed for peace, and what you got was a season of chaos that taught you to cling to Jesus in a way you never would’ve before.
You asked for clarity, and instead, God gave you a deeper trust that can walk in the dark.
You asked Him to change your circumstances, but instead… He changed you.
None of that looks like what we pictured.
But all of it is fulfillment.
The promise was never just about the destination. It was about the Person who walks you there.
And that makes all the difference.
The Promise Is Secure—Because the Promiser Is Faithful
At the end of the day, what gives us confidence in God’s promises isn’t the timeline or the outcome.
It’s Him.
God doesn’t keep His promises because we always get it right.
He keeps them because He is righteous.
Because He is faithful.
Because His character is unchanging—
even when everything around us feels uncertain.
Paul reminds us:
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful—for He cannot deny Himself.” — 2 Timothy 2:13
In other words: God doesn’t stop being who He is just because we waver.
He doesn’t cancel the plan just because we doubt.
He doesn’t forget the promise just because we feel forgotten.
He is steady.
He is trustworthy.
And He finishes what He starts.
So if you’re in a season where the promise feels out of reach—
or not at all what you expected—
take heart.
You are not alone in this in-between.
God’s promises may look different than you pictured.
They may unfold slower than you hoped.
But they are more sure than anything you could build for yourself.
Not because of what you see—but because of who He is.
Keep Holding On
If you’re holding on to a promise that feels delayed…
If you’re standing in the middle of something that doesn’t look like what you prayed for…
If you’re wondering whether you misunderstood what God said to you all those months—or years—ago…
Please hear this:
God has not changed His mind.
He’s still writing your story.
And the promise is still unfolding,
even if it’s happening in a way you didn’t expect.
If this stirred something in you and you want to go a little deeper, I wrote a personal reflection you can read on Substack called “When God’s Promises Don’t Turn Out the Way You Expected.”
With love and belief in you,
