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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 commandments. (Deuteronomy 7:9)

If we are going to revere, admire, and hope in the Lord, this verse is a good one to consider. Don’t you admire people who keep their word? God keeps His covenant over generations.  Where I struggle with this is that God’s keeping His covenant over generations isn’t about me. It’s a long term, not immediate thing. Perhaps most importantly, it doesn’t involve my getting everything I want.

But God didn’t promise to be my slave. He promised to be my God. The problem is with me, not Him – and I recognize that. Whether it’s part of human nature or something taught in our culture, there’s part of me that want to play the victim. It’s not fault God doesn’t consider keeping His covenant to mean what I want it to. I can’t help feeling abandoned, dismissed, or resentful. If He’d just do what I think I have a right to expect, everything would be fine. I can’t change the way I feel, after all.

But that’s not true. I can choose to recognize that what my feelings are telling me is a lie. God has kept His covenant, and He will keep it in all the ways it applies to me. He has been faithful, not matter how frail my faith or poor my vision. We must choose what to believe.

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