Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments. —Deuteronomy 7:9
Could you imagine life if we had to wonder if God was going to be faithful? Even when we wonder why God allowed this or what good can come from that, deep in our spirits we know that God keeps His covenant and that His mercy is for a thousand generations (a Hebraism for forever).
We know God is faithful, so we are free to live as though He is faithful. This belief in His faithfulness is the enemy of doubt and all its companions, such as discouragement, despair, and discontentment.
Life brings us many things that are unfair, but none of them will we face without God’s faithfulness. He hasn’t failed us when difficulty comes our way, but He will be faithful in the face of our difficulty. Even when we doubt, there is mercy to meet our lapses in faith. Life would be unbearable if we really thought that God, even for a moment, was not faithful to His covenant promises. Satan wants to convince us that pain or sorrow is a lapse in God’s faithfulness, but nothing could be further from the truth.
God is always there; He is always near. He cannot deny Himself; faithful is what He is—not what He does. It is impossible for Him not to be faithful. It is who He is; it is part of His character, a divine attribute. As Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of
Jacob.”
It is impossible for God to let us down. His faithfulness is eternal, as is His mercy when our faithfulness lapses. So why do we feel abandoned when trouble or tragedy strikes? Because we are human beings who dwell in bodies of flesh. But the day of trouble is exactly the time when we need to turn to an eternal God who is not limited to granting peace and hope only when things are good. God has not changed—even when our circumstances do!
Excerpt from “Body Builders” now available on Amazon.
