God’s Faithfulness
A compilation
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“The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”—Lamentations 3:22–231
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Ever since the heavenly Father created time, everything has been in flux—everything, that is, except God Himself. The environment changes with the seasons, and in a similar way, our life also goes through seasons. Some are filled with joy, while others are characterized by difficulty. But the Lord is faithful, and we can always take comfort in knowing this.
Faithfulness is one of God’s unchanging attributes. It means that He always does exactly what He says He will do and acts in accordance with His nature. He can never deny Himself, so when He promises to “sanctify you entirely,”2 you can count on Him to make you more like Christ—even using the painful seasons of life to do so.
God’s unchanging nature and faithfulness are the foundation of our hope. Because He won’t change His mind about our salvation, we have the assurance of eternal security. Since He is the sovereign Ruler of the universe, we never have to fear that our world is out of His control. His plans were formed long ago with perfect faithfulness,3 and no one can frustrate them or turn back His hand.4
Because God is faithful, we can have peace of mind in any circumstance—even in the face of death. Although we will change with time and the seasons of life will come and go, our faithful God is always the same. Since we belong to Him through Christ, He will never forget, neglect, or abandon us. He has promised to preserve us “complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,”5 and He will do it.—From In Touch Ministries6
Great is Thy faithfulness
In Lamentations chapter three, you’ll find the words: “Great is Thy faithfulness.” Jeremiah says, “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”7
Notice where he said, “This I recall.” It is a great thing to recall to mind God’s past faithfulness. I love that verse, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”8 As you meditate on His past faithfulness, the terror will go out of your spirit and you will walk on in victory to the strains of that verse in Hebrews 13: “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not fear.’”9
Jeremiah gathers his meditations around the times the Lord did not fail him, and he says, “This will I recall to mind.” He goes on to say that he will quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord, and he assures his heart that the resources of the Lord will not be exhausted in the hour of great trial or of real testing. “For the Lord,” he says, “will not cast off forever,” and though He will allow grief, “yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For he does not willingly afflict nor grieve the children of men.”10
The 119th Psalm likewise speaks of God’s faithfulness: “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations. You established the earth, and it abides. They [all things] continue this day according to Your ordinances.”11
The moment of supreme testing should be the moment of divine illumination, when you find with positive assurance that the resources of God are sufficient and unfailing for your every need because of His great faithfulness.
You may say, “I have at times been so faithless I can’t have faith and confidence the Lord would come to my help.” But God still forgives! He cleanses and restores. Come to Him today and tell Him all about it. He loves you and He says, “I will never fail you or forsake you.” And in Timothy, His Word says that even “if we are faithless, he remains faithful.”12
He has promised to make known to you His faithfulness, for He’s still on the throne and prayer changes things. Great is His faithfulness! Lay hold of it today.—Virginia Brandt Berg
Learning to trust in the faithfulness of God
Psalm 119:89–90 says, “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations.” Here faithfulness is equated with God’s Word. God speaks never-ending truth. If God spoke something a thousand years ago, it still stands. He is faithful to His Word, because His Word is an expression of His character. The promises He made still hold true because He does not change.13 …
When we study God’s Word, a pattern emerges. We learn that God never changes and never lies.14 We learn through Scripture that God has never failed in the past.15 … He will never cease being sovereign, being holy, or being good.16
We learn through our own history that He has never failed us, either. One command God often gave the Israelites was “Remember.”17 When they remembered all God had done for them, they could more easily trust Him for the future. We need to intentionally remember all the ways God has provided for us and delivered us in the past. …
When we come to Him in prayer, we know that He always hears us.18 He provides what we need.19 And He will always make everything work together for our good when we trust Him with it.20 We learn to trust God’s future faithfulness by remembering His past faithfulness.
And we can also learn to trust Him by learning to distinguish His voice from the others that compete for attention. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”21 We who belong to Jesus need to cultivate the ability to hear Him. He speaks primarily through His Word, but He can also speak through other people, through circumstances, and through the inner confirmation of the Holy Spirit.22 ... What the Spirit shows us in His Word is to be taken by faith as His message to us...
Above all things, God loves for us to demonstrate faith.23 Faith is trusting in the character of God before we see how He is going to work things out. He has given us His Word, and His promises still stand. As we see the ways He brings His promises to fulfillment, our trust in His faithfulness grows.
Just as our trust in other people grows with daily interaction, our trust in God grows the same way. We trust Him when we know Him, and to know Him is to trust Him. When we know Him, we can rest in His goodness, even when we don’t understand the circumstances that seem to contradict it. We can trust that God’s plan for us will prevail.24 As a child trusts a loving father, we can trust our heavenly Father to always do what is right.—From gotquestions.org25
Published on Anchor February 2021. Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.
Music by John Listen.
1 NASB.
2 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
3 Isaiah 25:1.
4 Isaiah 14:27.
5 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
7 Lamentations 3:21–26.
8 1 Samuel 7:12 NKJV.
9 Hebrews 13:5–6 NKJV.
10 Lamentations 3:31–33 NKJV.
11 Psalm 119:89–91 NKJV.
12 1 Chronicles 28:20; 2 Timothy 2:13.
13 Malachi 3:6.
14 Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29.
15 Isaiah 51:6.
16 1 Timothy 6:15; 1 Peter 1:16.
17 Deuteronomy 8:2; Isaiah 46:9.
18 1 John 5:14; Psalm 34:15.
19 Philippians 4:19.
20 Romans 8:28.
21 John 10:27.
22 Romans 8:16.
23 Hebrews 11:6.
24 Proverbs 19:21.
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