God Is Faithful

A.W. Pink lived from 1886 to 1952. He believed that unfaithfulness was one of the most common sins of “these evil days”. I daresay nothing has changed. In the workforce, many employees cannot be relied upon to show up for work, or if they do show up, they don’t do the work they were hired to do. They are unfaithful to their employer. Unfaithfulness is common in marriage. Despite wedding vows made, couples, Christian couples, are unfaithful to each other in a variety of ways from a shift in priorities to no longer cherishing each other to having affairs. Churches are unfaithful to God’s Word, willing to water it down or completely ignore it in order to please the culture and not be offensive. Unfaithfulness permeates our everyday relationships. We think nothing of backing out of commitments or continuing to walk with someone when things get messy and difficult.

We all have experienced someone being unfaithful in some way to us as well as our own unfaithfulness with others. In a world marred with unfaithfulness, God alone remains faithful all the time, in every circumstance.

¹  I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;

with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

²  For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;

in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”

⁵ Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,

your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!

⁸  O Lord God of hosts,

who is mighty as you are, O Lord,

with your faithfulness all around you?

²⁴  My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,

and in my name shall his horn be exalted. ^[1]

Psalm 89:1-2, 5, 8, 24

As we previously affirmed, God is infinite in all of His attributes including His faithfulness. “Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds” (Psalm 36:5).

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23, emphasis added).

Before we go further, A.W. Tozer offers a helpful definition of God’s faithfulness: “Faithfulness is that in God which guarantees that He will never be or act inconsistent with Himself…Everything God says or does must be in accord with His faithfulness. He will always be true to Himself, to His works, and to His creation.”^[2]

We tend to think of faithfulness in terms of how it relates to us, but God’s faithfulness, first and foremost, assures us that God will always be who He is (also guaranteed by His immutability). Because God is faithful, He can never be swayed. He can never be forced to be or do something inconsistent with who He is.

Moses wrote: “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” (Deuteronomy 7:9). A covenant is a promise between two people. In Deuteronomy, we see that God keeps His covenants or promises. As we touched on at the beginning, every person breaks a promise whether intentional or not. In contrast, God keeps all of His promises.

“If we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).

There are too many examples in Scripture to include them all, but here are a few samples of God’s promise keeping:

• “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). God has kept this promise for over four thousand years.

• God promised that Abraham would have a son in old age (Genesis 12:1-4; 15:4-5; 17:15-21). God was faithful to provide a son to Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 21:1-2).

• God declared to Abraham that his descendants would be sojourners in a foreign land for four hundred years. They would be afflicted, and then God would judge the foreign nation, and bring Abraham’s descendants out with great possessions (Genesis 15:13-14). God kept His promise when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. “The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:40-41). God judged Egypt by sending plagues and drowning its armies in the Red Sea. God kept his promise of the Israelites going out with great possessions (Exodus 12:35-36).

• God promised to never flood the earth again and gave the covenant sign of the rainbow (Genesis 9:8-11, 14-16). The earth has never been flooded like that again, and God continues to place His rainbow in the sky.

• In the Garden of Eden, God promised the Messiah (Genesis 3:15). This promise is repeated throughout the Old Testament (Isaiah 7:14 as one example). There were prophecies about His birth, His life, and death. Some counts estimate three hundred or more Messianic prophecies. Although there are some prophecies yet to be fulfilled in end times, Jesus fulfilled the majority of them. God was faithful in His promise of a Messiah.

Let’s consider another aspect of God’s faithfulness and promise keeping: “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began” (Titus 1:2; see also Numbers 23:19). God does not, cannot lie. His faithfulness is tied to all His words being true. I can promise to buy you dinner, but we won’t know if this is true until it is proven by me actually buying your dinner. But with God, all His words are true when spoken. They are always true. We can trust God will be faithful to His word because His word is true.

Now let’s examine some promises to us, trusting that God is faithful to keep His promises.

• God is faithful to complete the work of sanctification He has begun in us (Philippians 1:6). “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, emphasis added). I love how matter of fact, simple, and to the point Paul is in verse 24.

• God will sustain and keep us to the end (1 Corinthians 1:8-9; John 6:39-40; 10:28-30).

• God is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

• God is faithful to discipline us in love (Hebrews 12:6; Psalm 89:32-33).

• God is faithful in our temptations to provide a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13).

• God is faithful in our affliction that it is for a good purpose (Psalm 119:75; Romans 5:3-5; 8:28-29; James 1:2-4).

• God is faithful to execute His judgment on the wicked (Proverbs 11:21; Isaiah 13:11).

In Jesus, we behold perfect faithfulness. Jesus trusted the Father’s faithfulness to Him  as He endured suffering and death. He trusted that the Father would do what He had purposed through Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection. Jesus is also described as faithful (Revelation 19:11; Isaiah 42:3; 11:5). He was faithful to the Father, evidenced in His perfect obedience. Apart from Jesus’ faithfulness in life, death, and resurrection, we would have no hope of eternal life (Hebrews 2:17).

In light of the Gospel and God’s faithfulness, we are called to be faithful first to God and then to others (Galatians 5:22; Hebrews 11:11; Revelation 2:10). Being faithful means trusting God’s faithfulness instead of worrying, being thankful instead of complaining, increasing in our trust of God’s faithfulness, and waiting patiently for God in affliction even when we can’t see His faithfulness at work.

Reflection

1.    We profess God is faithful and His words are true, but functionally we do not live believing God is faithful. How have you functionally lived as if God is unfaithful? What in Scripture do you specifically need to believe is God’s true word and then respond in faithfulness?

2.    Times of affliction are when we are most tempted to functionally behave as if God is not faithful. We don’t like waiting. How can you be purposeful to trust God instead of worrying and be thankful instead of complaining? Be specific so you are better prepared the next time affliction comes.

3.    How does God’s faithfulness give you comfort, encouragement, and/or hope in a current circumstance?

4.    Share an example of God’s faithfulness in your own life.

For Further Study

1.    Read the following passages, write what you learn about God’s faithfulness and other “God is…”truths working in harmony with His sovereignty, and discuss it through text or in-person with others in your small group: 2 Timothy 2:19; 1:12; Lamentations 3:22-23; Psalm 89:1-2, 5, 7, 24; Romans 8:31-39.

2.    What other Biblical examples can you find that depict a promise God made and kept?

3.    Memorize one of the verses from “God Is Faithful”.

4.    Write out a prayer praising God for His faithfulness. Thank Him for a specific way His faithfulness has brought you comfort, hope, or encouragement.

5.    Listen to or read the lyrics for “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” “Faithful” by Steven Curtis Chapman, “My Redeemer is Faithful and True” by Steven Curtis Chapman, and “Promises” by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa.

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 89:1–24.

^[2] Tozer, A.W. The Attributes of God Volume 2: Deeper Into the Father’s Heart (Chicago, IL: Wing Spread Publishers, 2001), 176.