God is Faithful

      By Fern Horst

"God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." (I Corinthians 1:9)

I think that most of us have encountered unfaithful people in our lives. Unfaithfulness shows itself when someone fails to keep a promise made to us. The failed promise can be something as "little" as an agreement to meet for lunch, to vows from a spouse to love and cherish "till death do we part."

But no matter what it is, when unfaithfulness shows up it's always disappointing to us. We feel let down. Our trust has been betrayed. The truth of the matter is that we've all shown unfaithfulness of one degree or another, whether to God or to others. No matter what human relationship we enter into, or how much character and integrity a person has, they will at some point disappoint us with their unfaithfulness. Knowing that this happens, and that we are guilty of unfaithfulness at times as well, can help us to forgive when someone we love fails us.

The wonderful thing is that there is Someone who is always faithful. There is Someone who always keeps His promises. And that of course is the Lord. Although there are times when we feel disappointed by Him it is always when we project our expectations onto Him or misinterpret His promises. It is at those times that we must reexamine our own interpretations of the promises He made in His Word, rather than become angry with Him for not meeting our expectations. There are times in my life when I've had to realize that what I thought God had promised me was really my wishful thinking.

His Word, the Bible, is where we need to focus our expectations. So often we go to the Lord for a "word" and we think we hear Him promise something to us, only to have that "promise" go unfulfilled. There are certainly times when God has promised things to individuals during special times of communication with Him. But there are also many times when individuals project their desires onto what they think the Lord is promising them.

The true test of whether a promise is from the Lord is whether it comes to pass. If you think you've had a promise from the Lord for something specific in your life, hold it loosely with prayerfulness and a spirit of submission to whatever He has for you. Realize that the "promise" may be Satan's attempt to get you to think that God is unfaithful when it goes unfulfilled. Our humanness can be so deceiving at times, even when we think we know our own hearts. If it comes to pass, we can praise Him. If it doesn't, we can still be confident of His goodness and love and faithfulness.

The promises that are written in God's Word are the promises that we can hold onto with confidence and boldness. They will always be true no matter what. God truly will never leave us or forsake us. He is faithful to forgive all our sins when we confess them to Him. His Word that we share with others will not return to Him void. He will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory. The Comforter will be with us always. God will direct our paths as we acknowledge Him. He will complete the good work He has begun in us. Not one of all the good promises of the Lord will fail.*

As we put our trust in the Lord we can be confident that the promises in His Word will never fail. No matter what circumstance in life He takes us through His promises will be real. We need to spend time reading and learning His Word, so that when we need His promises to encourage us and keep us going on the right path, they will be just a thought away.

*These promises are from Deuteronomy 31:6, I John 1:9, Isaiah 55:11, Philippians 4:19, John 14:16, Proverbs 3:6, Philippians 1:6, Joshua 23:14

© 2006 Fern Horst

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