Sweet Sisters,
Have you ever been in a place in your life that was so dark you felt like you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face? Maybe you felt lost and abandoned. All you had trusted in and depended on seemed to have crumbled around you. Maybe you even questioned the faithfulness of God and His ability to keep His promises. You wondered, “Is God who He says He is?” and “Can He do what He says He can do?”
I think, if we are honest, we have all felt like this at some point in our lives. Today I want to share with you what I have learned through the Scriptures about the faithfulness of God and His ability to keep the promises He makes.
Let me begin by telling you that there are so many scriptures that address this subject that I had to choose the ones that spoke to me. You may want to do a more in-depth study on your own.
The Psalmist had no doubts about the faithfulness of God, especially towards those who love Him. In Psalms 25:10 he tells us that God is loving and faithful to those who keep His commandments.
All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
In Psalms 37:23-24, he tells us that God will not let the one who delights in Him fall.
The Lord makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
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though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
A few verses before in Psalm 37:4, he tells us that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
I love Psalm 119:90 where the psalmist praises God because He is faithful to all generations. That means from the psalmist’s time to ours and to our children’s and theirs. That means that no matter what you may read or see on social media, the earth will endure as long as God says it will.
Your faithfulness continues through all generations;
you established the earth, and it endures.
It seems to me that when Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations he was in a really dark place. Halfway through the book in chapter 3:22-25, we find these words:
22
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
Jeremiah made the choice to trust in the faithfulness of God and wait on Him in spite of the darkness of his world.
In Deuteronomy 31:5 – 6, the children of Israel are getting ready to cross the Jordan River and conquer the land God promised their fathers. He tells them to not be afraid because He will go with them and He will not forsake them.
5 The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
God wanted them to know that when things were dark and scary, He was with them.
Hundreds of years later He makes the same promise to Isaiah in Isaiah 41:10.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
God was faithful and kept His promises to the children of Israel, but what about us? Jesus promises in Matthew 11:28 that if we come to Him when we are tired and overwhelmed (Debbie’s paraphrase), that He will give us rest.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.”
The apostle Paul believed in the faithfulness of God. I Corinthians 1:9:
God is faithful,
who has called you into fellowship with his Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul also believed that God wanted to be in fellowship (relationship) with us. He believed that God was with us and protecting us when Satan tempts us (God does not tempt). I Corinthians 10:13:
No temptation has overtaken you
except what is common to mankind.
And God is faithful;
he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted,
he will also provide a way out
so that you can endure it.
In I Thessalonians 5:23 – 24, Paul tells us that “the one who calls you” (God) is faithful and He will sanctify (make us holy) and keep us blameless until He returns.
23 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.
24 The one who calls you is faithful,
and he will do it.
Sweet Sisters, God’s faithfulness just gets better and better.
Hebrews 10:23 encourages us to hold on to our hope because God is faithful!
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,
for he who promised is faithful.
I John 1:9 promises that if we confess our sins, God will forgive and purify us.
If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness.
God always promises to meet our needs richly and abundantly in ways we cannot imagine. Ephesians 3:20:
Now to him who is able to do
immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
The last scripture I want to share may be the best promise of all. We can hang on to this one no matter what life brings. Revelation 3:5:
The one who is victorious will,
like them, be dressed in white.
I will never blot out the name of that person
from the book of life,
but will acknowledge that name
before my Father and his angels.
If we hang on, no matter if few understand or not, and we never give up, we are promised that we get a white gown and our names are written in the Book of Life and that Jesus Himself will acknowledge us before God and His Angels.
The other day I was listening to the Christian music radio station that Paul and I love, and this song played. I think it really sums up today’s lesson.
Yes He Can
Song by Cain
Sometimes I wonder, is He faithful?
Does He see me in my trouble?
Does He understand?
Sometimes I question if He’s able
Can He rescue, can He save me
Again and again?
But when I look back
Did He move every mountain?
Did He part every sea?
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
Did He defeat the darkness?
Did He deliver me?
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
Sometimes those voices try to tell me
I’m forgotten, and I’ve fallen
Too far from His hands
But I know what kind of God He is
And I’m trusting in His promises
I’m believing
And I’m singing
Yes He can
Did He move every mountain?
Did He part every sea?
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
Did He defeat the darkness?
Did He deliver me?
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
‘Cause I’ve seen too much
Now I can’t deny
He’s come through every single time
From the beginning until the end
He did, He will, He can
Did He move every mountain?
Did He part every sea?
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
Did He defeat the darkness?
Did He deliver me?
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
Did He move every mountain?
Did He part every sea?
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
Did He defeat the darkness?
Did He deliver me?
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
Yes, He did
So yes, He can
Yes, He did
Yes, He can
Sweet Sisters, when you feel the urge to question the faithfulness of God, stop and take a moment to remember all the times in the past that God has proved Himself faithful in your life and absolutely trust that He will once again keep His promises to you. YES, HE CAN.
Debbie