There has been a common theme lately in my thoughts, bible reading, conversations with friends etc. This theme is something that I wish I could make the theme of my life. Or the thing I think on most often. It is one of the ways in which we differ so greatly from the Lord. It’s His faithfulness. He has indeed been faithful to us sinners. I think of Romans 5:8 that reminds us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Praise God that His faithfulness is not based off of anything we’ve done!
I’ve only been a follower of Christ for 3 1/2 years and He has proved that He is faithful in many ways. Here are a couple:
1. He’s a faithful provider financially. When I was a brand new believer I was dirt broke. I was working 2 part time jobs and couldn’t pay my bills. It doesn’t help that I didn’t know how to budget either! God provided for months as I applied and waited for His provision of a full time job.
*He used the body of Christ(most people I didn’t even know) to come together and pitch in to provide rent for one month. I had no idea. My friend saw I was struggling and got with her church and together raised the money in less than 3 weeks.
*Not too long after I was running out of food.(I had been eating peanut butter sandwiches for weeks and was almost out lol) I was having to choose between groceries and gas money to get to work. I hadn’t told anyone that I was struggling that much. I came home from bible study to tons of groceries at my door. I felt with such intensity the love of God in that moment when I saw those bags. I fell to my knees crying. I could barely utter my thankfulness. I get chills just thinking about it!
*Yet another time I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it to pay for gas to make it to work and I found a $20 bill on my kitchen counter under a pop can. Still don’t know where that came from! Lol.
What I learned during this was not only to be a good steward of what God gives me but more importantly after struggling to provide for myself since I was 18 He showed me I can rely on Him and He is all I need. I remember finally coming to the point of thinking “God I’m short by hundreds this month but I know you will provide what I need.” And I truly believed it. Now I look at where I am and where I came from and I’m absolutely amazed. I have a beautiful home, a great job, a husband that provides, MONEY IN SAVINGS(ok, that’s just crazy!) and so much more than I need. But I still can look back and know that I would be ok without those things because my God has proved himself to always provide for me no matter the circumstance.
2. He’s faithful in that He gives us what is best for us. We are so often wrong about what we think is best for our lives. I think we all have had a plan in our minds and when God did something different we later saw that what He ordained was much better than what we wanted. Most of the time something painful is involved. That’s the case for me.
*I was engaged and at the time thought I was in love(turns out I was wrong since the only true love is God honoring love). So you can imagine my despair when God graciously ripped that man from my arms. When something like this happens many say to you “God has someone much better for you.” While this is true I think maybe we should say that He has something better for us, and that something is Him. And boy is He much, much better! The Lord didn’t walk me through the most difficult time of my life so I could marry the man of my dreams, He did so so that I could experience His love and grace more fully than ever before. Even as that man moved on and married before me and I cried out to the Lord many nights that He would bring me a husband, I remember the Holy Spirit quietly prompting me saying “You don’t need a husband, you need me.” Some say that people who experience true loneliness experience God like no one else. I believe that’s true. He grew my love for Him tremendously during those hard nights. He hurt me to heal me. When I look back now I don’t think of my wedding day as the day that I was finally healed. I think back to those months before I was dating my husband. The months in which I truly was content and happy with the Lord alone. That was such a sweet time. He is so faithful in His plans for us!
I could go on but let’s remember the most amazing way God is faithful.
3. He is faithful to give us what we don’t deserve (if you are in Christ). Despite what many of us think or have thought, we are not good people. I saw a quote the other day that said “Bad things don’t happen to good people. That only happened once and he volunteered.” The bible says that there is no one good, not even one. That pretty much includes everyone folks! When we really grasp this fact we are reminded that the only thing we do deserve is Hell. It’s true, from the day we were born we did nothing but reject the Creator that gave us life. We didn’t want Him, we wanted our sin. That’s what is so amazing about Amazing Grace! Those who repent and trust in Christ alone to save them don’t get what we deserve. Instead God gives us the most precious gift, namely himself. He covenants with us to never let us go and give us the honor of knowing Him and loving Him for all eternity. He doesn’t stop there though! He’s faithful to show us our sin and sanctify us to be more like Him! I can’t wait to spend eternity with the one who scooped me out of my filth and gave me a heart to love Him and His commandments. His faithfulness is unfathomable!
1 Corinthians 1:9 ESV
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
