There is a popular Facebook status, “Name one word about God you love” or “Name one great attribute about God” that I love! Whenever I see this I always post the word, “Faithful!” Of course God is many things and it would be impossible to sum Him up in one word, but I think the premise behind the Facebook request, is to use one word that really describes God to you or how He most works in your life. For me—it is His faithfulness.
This is not my first time writing about God and how faithful He is, but it seems to be a subject that needs to be talked about on a continual bases. And I don’t see anything wrong with that, especially since our life experiences in the Kingdom go from small faith to bigger faith. Which, to me means we can never outgrow God’s faithfulness to us? Whatever He did for me 23 years ago still means as much as whatever He does for me today. Because, now I have a history of God’s faithfulness to help me carry on when discouragement or unbelief try to tell me that He is not going to come through. I have tasted God and found He is faithful no matter what!
If we are going through something in our lives it is important for us to take time to determine if we are experiencing a trial, test or the makings of our own doing? Why? Because it will help how we deal with things in the end. Take Job—what happened to him was the testing of God’s will in his life. The Bible doesn’t tell us that he did something wrong, in fact he was minding his own business, and living life when satan was given permission by God to check out what Job was made of. But in King David’s case, he sinned against God with Bathsheba and murdered an innocent man (her husband Uriah). So, a lot of problems he had thereafter were of his own making. His sons rising up against him and each other all had to do with the curse he brought from God for his sins. And yet the Lord did not deal with him as harshly as David told the prophet Nathan the person who did this evil act should be. Nope He spared his life and allowed him to still be king. Through it all David still loved God, and God still loved him. In fact God has made the statement that King David was a man after God’s own heart. I don’t think it can get much better than that.
Are you suffering now because of sin in your life or poor life decisions? Did you have an affair with a married man or even a single man before you were married? Was there a child from this union? Are you having custody problems? Or is this child at a point in life they are making you miserable? Did you marry a man that under God’s commands you should have never been with? And now there are many problems in paradise? Have you spent your money anyway you wanted without regard to saving or paying tithes? And now you are broke after years of mismanagement and waste? Did you sign on the dotted line every time a salesperson told you how much you would save on today’s purchase if you opened up a credit card, and now the bill collectors won’t stop calling because you can’t make the payments? Did you do something wrong or illegal concerning your job and now find yourself jobless without a good reference? There are so many different scenarios I could come up with, but by now I’m sure you can judge if your problems are of your own doing or not.
The bad news is…”Whatsoever a man sows that will he reap!” But the good news is—God is faithful in His love and mercy for us!
When God told David that the son Bathsheba gave birth to would not live, David put on sackcloth, fasted and prayed prostrate hoping to change God’s mind. It didn’t. The child died as God said he would, and at that point David realized it was done. He got up, washed and ate. In other words he accepted his fate and began to move on with his life. And he could do that because he still had God’s love and support. And it didn’t stop there; many more things came into his life because of what he did. He had a son plotting to kill him, a son who raped his half sister Tamar. Tamar’s brother revenged her rape by killing his half brother, David didn’t get to build the Temple and the list goes on and on. But through it all King David never doubted God’s love for him. In fact the longer he lived the more He grew to know just how deep God’s love and faithfulness was.
Job on the other hand was patient. He suffered quite a bit, but he refused to listen to his distraught and angry wife and curse God and die. He refused to agree with his friends who doubted God. I think we all have them. You know the ones who shout at the top of their lungs in church, “Hallelujah— God is great and worthy to be praised!” And somewhere in their hearts they half believe that God can, but really doubt that He will—we all know that type, because at times that is us. ~Smile~
If we determine we are experiencing hard times because of God’s testing of our faith then we must surround ourselves with people who have big faith in God! Stay in the Word, be patient, ride things out, leaning on the knowledge God is faithful to sustain us. And if our problems are due to sin in our lives, we must be like King David, and put on your big girl panties and suck it up. That’s right, stop whining and whimpering over things that are your own fault? Accept responsibility, ask God’s forgiveness, forgive yourself and begin to live life.
God is faithful, no matter what! His Agape (unconditional) love is so vast we really can’t comprehend it. The shed Blood of Jesus covers the craziest things that any of us could do or imagine. Yes, we do have to endure the consequences of our actions (sin) but it does not stop us from living life. Even if you are someone who is in jail right now because of something you did or did not do—God will meet you right there, right now, and He will be faithful in His love and care for you. Do not let a guilty conscience or the voices of the past rob you of today and your future.
Sisters, I pray I have encouraged you to be of a good cheer because of God’s faithfulness to us. Don’t allow your past mistakes to steal everything from you today. I John I:19 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And He does one better than that….He put them in the sea of forgetfulness. Amen!
God is FAITHFUL sisters! If you don’t believe that, then start working on it today! It will change your life forever.
Look for a blog next week, until then….be blessed!!
Love & Hugs
Ponnie
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