June 17, 2020
Have you ever been afraid? Have you ever tried to calm your feel on your own? Have you ever stopped trusting in God? I have. As I have walked through my life and the tragedies that have occurred, I have found myself trying to resolve those tragedies on my own. Did I lose faith in God or was I unfaithful to Him? I do not believe I lost my faith in God but I certainly was not faithful to Him. Deep down inside I believed God was my answer but I did not seek God’s solution even though He had the solution because He is always faithful.
So, what does it mean to be faithful? The Bible tells us in Psalms 91:3-6 about the faithfulness of God. It uses descriptions to me that connotate safety and security. It talks about deliverance.
“For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.”
So, if when I look at this passage, I ask myself the question what does He deliver me from? How does He provide me with safety and security? It is clear to me that this is a promise. He delivers me from all difficulties. He protects me and keeps me safe in all things. This is sometimes hard to understand particularly when I am in the midst of a trial. I do not feel delivered, safe and secure. But I need to set my fears aside and trust in the promise that God is faithful.
Then there are the times when I have lived my life doing my own thing and I was not faithful to God. One of those times was prior to Laura’s mental illness. I had walk away from the study of God’s Word, I had stopped seeking Him in prayer except to bless my food at mealtime. I had stopped regularly attending church. So, because of my unfaithfulness did God stop being faithful to me and the promises that He had made to me. Absolutely not! The Bible tells us, “What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:
‘So that you may be proved right when you speak
and prevail when you judge.’” Romans 3:3-4 (ESV)
In fact, it was just the opposite He reached out to me and provided me away out of the temptation to be unfaithful. Again, The Bible says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)
However, there are some passages in The Bible that I have to scratch my head and wonder what God is telling me in the passage, one of those is Proverbs 28:20 which says, “A faithful man will abound with blessings,
but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.” (ESV)
Sometimes I do not feel blessed when I am faithful. Well maybe it is Because I do not see what God sees. I certainly thought that a lot over the last nearly 18 years as I returned to faith and trust in God. God did not heal Laura the way I wanted her healed even though she is perfectly healed. I continue to struggle with loneliness particularly as I write this when I am under a stay at home order because of Covid-19 and under a strict nighttime curfew because of rioting just 7 blocks from where I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Somehow none of these things seems to be to be under a blessing. But, when I look at the bigger picture, which is still much smaller than God’s picture. I feel blessed. I have become closer to God. My faith has grown immensely. I have becoe a better man. All of those things I believe are God’s blessings to me and they come because of His faithfulness not mine and it brings me great hope.If you do not have this kind of trust in God for that hope because He is faithful. If you do not have a relationship with God yet then get to know His Son Jesus for He is faithful and will provide you with a hope for the future.
