God is Faithful

God is Faithful

Meera Short

October 19, 2022

One of the character traits of God is that He is faithful.

Deut 7:8-11 ESV

8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

Faithful used here in verse 9, in Hebrew, is used in the feminine and indicates the nourishing way of a mother who carries and cares for a child.

How many times have you called God faithful? In fact it has become a cliche. We say it without truly weighing what it fully means.

A baby cannot walk, cannot talk, cannot feed itself, change itself, a baby will either sleep, cry, or lay there looking around. There is no worry for a baby, or there should never be a worry for the baby. When we look at the word faithful in the context described above, it should paint a clear picture that God cares in a much deeper way about us than our own mother cares for us. We should think of the inability to care for ourselves, much like a baby, and rest and place our expectations in a God that loves us. Like the verse says (Deut 7:8) because the Lord loves you, He keeps His Word and is faithful to you.

Five things that show us God is faithful:

1- He is all knowing – Omniscient.

He tells of things to come, predicting the future of a matter.

Isaiah 46:10 AMPC

Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose,

He is aware of what is happening in this world and with His people.

Exodus 3:7 AMPC

And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters and oppressors; for I know their sorrows and sufferings and trials.

His knowledge is perfect.

Job 37:16 AMPC

Do you know how the clouds are balanced [and poised in the heavens], the wonderful works of Him Who is perfect in knowledge?

Because He is perfect in knowledge, who can teach Him?

Job 21:22 ESV

Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high?

2- He is all powerful – God Almighty – Omnipotent

We tend to worship God and evaluate His capability based on our own strength and ability. When we do this, we limit Him so much in our lives; this keeps our expectations low.

Instead of looking at our life circumstances through a heart that is gripped with faith and a heart that is convinced of His Word, we look at circumstances that come our way gripped with fear and disbelief.

He can do the impossible!

Gen 18:14 ESV

Is anything too hard[a] for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Nothing is too hard for Him to do.

In Jeremiah 32, God is using the prophet to warn the people of coming judgment and after that the restoration of their beloved city.

Jer 32:17 ESV

Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

And God agrees with Jeremiah and says to him:

Jer 32:27 ESV

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”

God is all powerful in that He seals us and guards us.

1 Peter 1: 3-5 AMPC
Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 Born anew] into an inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay [imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are being guarded (garrisoned) by God’s power through [your] faith [till you fully inherit that [c]final] salvation that is ready to be revealed [for you] in the last time.

3 – God is Everywhere – He is Omnipresent.

We know that God is faithful because He is always with us. The psalmist tell us in:

Psalm 139:7-8 NLT

I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!8

If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there.

Psalm 46:1 NLT

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

No one can hide, not the wicked or the righteous, no one can hide from God.

Jeremiah 23:23-24 NLT

Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the Lord. “No, I am far away at the same time. 24 Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the Lord.

4- God never changes.

Can you imagine if God was truly like us? Imagine Him being moody, and changing His mind the moment we did something that was displeasing to Him.

Malachi 3:6 AMPC

For I am the Lord, I do not change; that is why you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

He doesn’t change His mind.

Numbers 23:19 ESV

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

His plan and purpose for the world, through Christ, never changed.

John 3:16-17 NKJV

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

5- God never lies.

God will always do what He has promised He would do. He will always do it how He says He would do what He said He would do. And God will always do it when He says He would do it.

God is faithful because He is reliable.

Romans 3:3-4 AMPC

What if some did not believe and were without faith? Does their lack of faith and their faithlessness nullify and make ineffective and void the faithfulness of God and His fidelity [to His Word]? 4 By no means! Let God be found true though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written, That You may be justified and shown to be upright in what You say, and prevail when You are judged [by sinful men].

Eternal life was promised.

Titus 1:2 GWT

My message is based on the confidence of eternal life. God, who never lies, promised this eternal life before the world began.

Hebrews 6:18 CEV

God cannot tell lies! And so his promises and vows are two things that can never be changed. We have run to God for safety. Now his promises should greatly encourage us to take hold of the hope that is right in front of us.

When we say that God is faithful, it should cause us to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we can fully rely on and trust God.

How can we grow in our trust that He is faithful?

Reflect – think back on all of the times in your life where you were perhaps in sin, without Jesus, and recall all of the things He has spared you from. Look back and record ways that God showed up for you.

Meditate – meditate and read on what the Bible says about His faithfulness. There are over 2,000 scriptures that teach us about His faithfulness.

Choose to trust Him – We get to choose to follow His way of doing things. Choosing obedience brings the blessing. God is ready to show Himself strong to us all. But we deny Him this opportunity. When we choose His ways over our own, we will see His faithfulness to fulfill His promises in our lives.