Skip to main content

He Who Promised Is Faithful


Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 7:9) 

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23) 

            What does it mean that God is faithful? Faithful to whom? Faithful to what? First and foremost, it means that God is faithful to Himself. He does not work at cross purposes with Himself. This sounds obvious, but it is very different from the way we live. We know that we should eat right, exercise, get a good night's sleep, not over-indulge in anything, and not eat, drink, smoke or otherwise take into our bodies things that are harmful to us. The research has shown that the healthiest, wealthiest, more stable sort of family is the traditional family, yet we divorce, we redefine family to mean nothing because it means anything, and we do ourselves and our society harm. Why do we do these things? Often, it is because we aren't loyal to ourselves. We are driven by whims, wishes and feelings. (This is not t say that God does not have feelings, but that His feelings are faithful to Him - they do not rule Him or betray Him the way ours tend to betray us.)
           Because God is faithful to Himself, when He keeps His promises. He does what He says He is going to do unless we change, thus making His action unnecessary. There is a huge blessing to us in this faithfulness. God doesn't decide one day to make apples nutritious, and the next day to make them poisonous. He doesn't promise not to destroy the world with water again during one lifetime, and then destroy it with water in the next. He doesn't devise ten thousand different  means to salvation, changing from one to another without warning. Because He is faithful to Himself, He must be faithful to us. We can exist and function in the universe only because God is faithful to Himself.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In the sky:
New Moon
On the Calendar:
Birthday of Rudyard Kipling, the Soviet Union
The United States took possession of the Louisiana Territory from France

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Right Road

          Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)                  For years before GPSes existed, I told people I wanted something in my car that would tell me, “Turn left in half a mile…turn left in a quarter mile…turn left in 500 feet… turn left in 100 feet…turn left now …You missed the turn, Dummy!” The problem isn’t necessarily that I get lost so much as I’m afraid I’ll get lost. I don’t want to have to spend my whole trip stressing over the next turn. I have the same problem with my spiritual journey.   

Died as a Ransom

                 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:15)                  This is something I’d really rather not think about but here it is and it’s important. I was reading in Bold Love about seeking revenge.  The author wrote of seeking justice when a supposed Christian does something sinful, harmful, and/or horrific, like sexually abusing a daughter.  And the thought that came to mind was of God asking if Jesus’ death was sufficient payment to me for the sin committed against me.                I have no specific longing for revenge, vengeance, or justice. I’m sure there are some lurking somewhere in my heart, but this wasn’t a response to one. It was more a question of principle. Jesus’ death was sufficient payment for to God for our sins.  That’s the standard Sunday Schoo

Out of the Depths

  Out of the depths I have cried to You, Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the sound of my pleadings.   If You, Lord, were to keep account of guilty deeds, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, so that You may be revered. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and I wait for His word. My soul waits in hope for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; Yes, more than the watchmen for the morning. Israel, wait for the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his guilty deeds . (Psalm 130)             I like Mr. Peterson’s interpretation of the first line. “The bottom has fallen out of my life!” Of course, the problem for some of us is the fact that we’re drama queens, and/or we’re weak. Any time anything happens that disturbs our sense of mastery and control, the bottom has fallen out of our lives. If the past couple of days have taught me anything, they’ve t