The Faithfulness of God

God is in us and with us, always. From the moment of our conception He formed us in the palm of His hand (Psalm 119:73). He knew at the very moment of our conception the person He wanted to make and the purpose He wanted to make us for. He knew about us even far before the time of our conception. He knew about us from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). He hand-crafted us to fulfill a very specific purpose. He designed every aspect of our personalities, gifts, talents, strengths and abilities to meet a very specific purpose. He has a destiny and a plan for each one of us. Everything we go through in our lives can be used to fulfill our ultimate purpose. God is faithful from the moment we are conceived. He formed us. Our parents did not form us. God chose our parents and crafted us from their DNA. God chose where and to whom we would be born.

God’s character is essentially faithfulness. “Muna means ‘faithfulness, trustworthiness, integrity’. Like met, it occurs in the context of moral language (steadfast love, righteousness, justice, etc.) and is used to reveal God’s character, often in language of praise. The song of Moses, for example, exalts God as ‘a faithful God who does not wrong’ (Deut. 32:4)” (Mounce 234).

He is faithfully watching over us our whole lives, keeping us within certain boundaries. We get a sense of this as we approach danger from which we cannot return. He is faithfully watching over us, not interfering, but at times intervening on our behalf. He allows painful things to happen that will teach us to grow. These things are not meant to destroy us, but help us grow and make us stronger and better. God is not worried about the state of the vessel as much as the strength and quality of the vessel. He knows a vessel can always be cleaned up and restored if it is good quality. God views us a craftsman views His workmanship. He is working for good quality vessels that can be tried by fire and found to be pure as gold. God sees the “diamond in the rough”. God sees the intrinsic value in each vessel. This value never disappears no matter how much we dirty and mess ourselves up.

“God is faithful even if his people are not (2 Tim. 2:13)” (Mounce 233). No matter how much we mess up, God is still faithful. “Used as an attribute for God, met expresses an essential element of his character. When God reveals himself to Moses on Mount Sinai, he declares, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (Exod. 34:6)” (Mounce 234).

When God looks at us He sees infinite value. He is like an expert antique dealer. He sees the intrinsic value in a piece, but even more-so because He is the Creator of each piece of work. He alone knows the great and infinite value of each vessel. He is deeply attached to each piece of His workmanship. He is bonded with every single piece. He is not only Creator; He is Father. He puts His heart and soul into each piece of His creation. We came from His heart, His mind, His Spirit. We are formed by God, our Father.

“Yahweh is el emeth ‘faithful God’ (Ps. 31:5), one who can be utterly relied on. This is true not least of God as creator: ‘As creator, God ‘keeps emeth’ and humankind can rely on God forever’ (Ps. 146:6). ‘The works of his hands are faithful and just’…Significant here is the frequent linking of emeth with khesedh, God’s ‘steadfast love’” (Sakenfeld 408). The term “steadfast love” (referring to God’s steadfast love) can be seen all throughout the Bible, particularly in the Psalms and Lamentations. “Similarly with emunah: ‘The word of the Lord is upright and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord’ ((Ps. 33:4-5); Yahweh says to Israel, ‘I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord” (Hos. 2:20); ‘The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness’ (Lam. 3:22-23)” (Sakenfeld 408-409).

We are living after the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. That was a sad and very tragic day for God and for all of us. We are marred by sin. Oh, how we have fallen into tragedy. But God has not lost sight of our intrinsic value. We now appear as poor, ragged, filthy little beggar children to Him. Like a dusty, marred, destroyed antique tossed onto the rubbish pile God picks us up, blows the dust off, surveys us and deems us worthy of salvation and redemption. He says “yes” to buying us. He says we are worth the price, and what a price that is. What a costless price. For what anyone else would count as garbage, God says: “No, that is priceless treasure. That is worth everything to me.”

“The pinnacle of faithfulness in the Bible is seen in the work of Jesus Christ, who showed himself faithful to his Father (Heb. 3:2) and in his witness (Rv. 1:5)” (Elwell 472).

We are like the pearl of great price. God sells everything He has to buy us back. He gave an infinite price. The price of His own life. The price He was willing to pay was the blood of Jesus Christ, His own Son, God incarnate, God in the flesh. God gave everything He had to buy us back because we are just that valuable to Him. He sees not only what we are presently, but what we can become. He knows through salvation in the blood of Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit we can be restored to our original perfection. We can become what we were originally created to become and live out our ultimate destiny, God’s best for us.

The Holy Spirit comes to live in us after salvation, binding Himself to us for better or for worse, like a marriage partner. He never grows weary of working in us for our good and He has His work cut out for Him. This body of flesh is the most obstinate, hard-headed, selfish, stiff-necked thing you can possibly imagine, but our incredibly patient, incredibly kind God can break down all of our walls and defenses through the incredible power of His love. He’s married to us for better or for worse. He is incredibly faithful. The nature of God is faithfulness.

2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”

His love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave. Many waters cannot quench this love. He is utterly passionately in love with us, and is faithful to death and beyond. It is hard to fathom the extreme faithfulness and passionate love of the Holy Spirit which must be felt to be understood. This love is stronger than the grave. This is love that surrenders its own life and beyond. In pain and in tears He binds Himself to us, and promises it is forever. He will not leave or forsake us. (Deut. 31:6)  He binds Himself to us and pledges His faithfulness, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. Song of Solomon 8:6-7 “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.”

You can’t buy the Holy Spirit. You can’t lie to the Holy Spirit. You can only love Him and let Him love you. The Holy Spirit is the fire inside of us.  Hebrews 12:29 “For our God is a consuming fire.”
The Holy Spirit is the seal of God upon us. It’s His seal of ownership that says we belong to Him forever and He will be forever faithful to us.  2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

In conclusion, “God reveals his faithfulness through his character. When it comes to the issue of faithfulness God makes it clear that his reputation is at stake. The honor of his name is on the line. Regardless of our shaky experiences with anyone else, God longs for us to have complete confidence in his integrity. ‘God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?’ (Num. 23:19)” (Ingram 215). “God reveals his faithfulness through his truthfulness in his covenants (Deut. 7:9), his promises (Heb. 10:23), and his prophecies. He never breaks a covenant or a promise. They are rock-solid guarantees, more certain than money in the bank. And his predictions never fail; they always- without exception- take place” (Ingram 216).


                                                                  Works Consulted

Elwell, Walter A., and Philip Wesley. Comfort. Tyndale Bible Dictionary. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 2001. Print.

Ingram, Chip. God, as He Longs for You to See Him. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2004. Print.

Mounce, William D. Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006. Print.

Sakenfeld, Katharine Doob. The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2009. Print.

Tenney, Merrill C., and J. D. Douglas. The New International Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.: Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Pub. House, 1987. Print.