I AM Faithful
For those who don’t know, I’m a 5th grade teacher at a private Christian school. I love my job because discipleship is part of what I do every day! On Fridays, my students and I have quiet time with the Lord. I model this for them and give them tools for seeking the Lord personally and reading His Word independently. Throughout the year, it becomes one of their favorite times of the week. Last Friday, during this time, one of my students came to me to ask me what this verse meant:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8 NIV
It was my joy to remind him that Jesus has been there from the beginning of time and is still alive today, that the same God who created the universe, parted the red sea, saved Daniel from the lions, and died for our sins, is still alive and well. If He was good then, He is good now. He is faithful. We can trust Him the same way.
But to be honest, God’s faithfulness is something I grapple with at times. The struggle is real. I question His faithfulness when I don’t feel it or when things don’t go the way I think they should, the way I think makes the most sense. Maybe you’ve experienced one of these disappointments or hardships and question God’s faithfulness to you:
The person who prayed for doesn’t get healed.
You lost your job.
Your spouse was unfaithful.
You are still single late in life.
You are unable to bear children.
You can’t seem to get out of debt.
You can’t seem to get out of bed.
Someone took advantage of you.
Someone you trusted abused you.
Someone at church hurt you.
If you haven’t experienced any of these, be grateful. But you’ve certainly experienced your own dissatisfaction, I’m sure. Life isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. The truth is that sometimes life seems to break us. But hear me out - God is faithful. When people are not, He is. When our bodies fail us, He does not. When things don’t feel good, He is still good.
God’s faithfulness is not dependent on your feelings. What a flawed scale! Our feelings change constantly, so our view of something can change constantly as well. This is why Hebrews 13:8 strikes a chord. Jesus doesn’t change. He is steady and faithful.
Faithful, by English, Hebrew, and Greek translations, all mean the same thing - firm, steady, able to be trusted or relied on, steadfast, steady in allegiance or affection. Faithful describes God. It is who He is. It is what He does. If I went through every verse about God’s faithfulness or every story in which we see God’s faithfulness in the Bible, I’d have to write a book. Literally, the whole Bible is about how God remains faithful to an unfaithful people. He is good on His promises even when we fail.
Believing God is faithful requires faith. We have to look beyond ourselves and circumstances to see God’s steady hand working for His will, His glory, and our good.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 NIV
Sin - ours and others - has far-reaching effects. The sin of others against us or those we love feels unjust because it is. Injustice in the world doesn’t mean God isn’t faithful. It’s in the midst of injustice that we see God deliver people, restore people, and redeem ashes into something beautiful. It’s there that hope springs up. One of my favorite verses from the Bible come from the book of Daniel. At this time, King Nebuchadnezzar required everyone to bow down to an image of himself. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused. The punishment was to be thrown into the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar gave them a second chance to comply to his demand, and this was their response:
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.
Daniel 3:16-18 NIV
These guys trusted in God’s faithfulness outside of their circumstance. What was about to happen to them was not fair or good. They believed God could and would save them. But they knew that even if He didn’t, they would not stop worshiping Him or start worshiping a false god. By saying “even if he does not” tells me that they have probably experienced things not going their way before. They understood that God’s faithfulness does not rely on circumstances. I long to have that kind of trust in God and His ways.
Sometimes God mercifully delivers us from our earthly circumstances like He did for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We tend to want to apply God’s promises, His faithfulness, to our human experience; often, we can. However, God’s promises to rescue us and save us are not about our physical bodies. Those promises are for our souls. We are depraved and sinful people, always demanding faithfulness in return for unfaithfulness. We supply filthy rags in exchange for righteousness. Jesus’s work on the cross was the most lopsided transaction in all of history. We got the better end of the deal. His promises to us, while undeserved, are true and steady. They are reliable.
God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:9 NIV
If nothing else proves God’s faithfulness to me, Jesus’s death and resurrection that brings me into a personal relationship with the Lord ought to. That alone is enough. We are an undeserving people; yet, God desires a relationship with us.
When we doubt God’s faithfulness, it is often because we lose sight of who we really are. We start to think of ourselves as the “other brother” rather than the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) or as the faithful spouse rather than the adulterous wife (Hosea 1:2). We think we deserve more than we get. We don’t see how so much of what we lack is due to our own shortcomings. I think about my students and how they pray for an A on an essay or test without putting in the work for an A. They get disappointed when they don’t get an A, but the fault is not with me, the teacher. I grade fairly and consistently. They didn’t earn the A, but sometimes they take it personally, like the grade reflects my feelings about them. I have to remind them that if I graded based on love, they would all get an A! Thankfully, our Lord isn’t just a fair teacher. He is unquestionably merciful and doesn’t give us what we deserve. He gives us forgiveness instead. He gives an A+ in the class because He loves us. He can do that. But we can’t forget that it is undeserved. Because when earthly circumstances disappoint us or we get exactly what we deserve in life, God hasn’t suddenly become unfaithful.
He is perfectly faithful. We are the ones who need to change. And He helps us.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NIV
God is faithful to sanctify you. Sanctify means to make holy and purify. He is faithful to cleanse us from our sin.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 NIV
God always forgives our sin. That is faithfulness we can count on.
1 Peter 4:19 offers encouragement for when life is hard. The Message paraphrases this verse well:
So if you find life difficult because you’re doing what God said, take it in stride. Trust him. He knows what he’s doing, and he’ll keep on doing it.
1 Peter 4:19 The Message
We can count on God. He’s trustworthy and reliable. When everything and everyone else fails us, He will not. Believer, if you put your trust in Jesus, remember that God is faithful. He sees you. He knows what you need before you ask. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Life can be so hard and feel so unfair at times. But have hope.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23 NIV
Prayer: Faithful God, help me to see your goodness and faithfulness every day. When others disappoint me or fail me, help me to give forgiveness and grace to them. Help me to see You for who You are - a faithful and merciful God. Set my eyes on You and not on the things of this earth that let me down. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
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