Last week I wrote on the faith-ful-ness of God, emunah in Hebrew. And how this word carries with it the idea of steadfastness and perseverance. God is faithful to us; He perseveres with us. But do we often think about the fact that God is faithful to us for a purpose? Sometimes we feel like God is faithful to me bc I deserve it or He knows I need it or simply bc He loves me so much.
But there is so much more to God’s faithfulness.
God was faithful (and still is) to the children of Israel in very practical ways during their 40 years in the wilderness. The Bible talks about how they always had food and water, their clothes and sandals did not wear out… But in return God was very specific – the people of Israel belonged to Him and were to fear, serve, and worship only Him. The faithfulness of God to Israel was to cause them to be faith-ful to Him in return.
It is the same with us. God is faithful to us IN ORDER to produce in us a faithfulness to Himself. His faithfulness/steadfastness/perseverance with us is to encourage, grow and even produce in us a steadfastness and a perseverance to Him. We have a response to God’s faithfulness and it’s more than simply being thankful for it. We are to faith-ful in return.
And God is good bc we aren’t called blindly to trust and be faithful to a God we know nothing about. We have the Scriptures, we hear the testimonies, we see God move and act in our own lives. I can testify to the faithfulness of God to my family in so many ways!
God is faithful. He has proven it over and over again – may His faithfulness always bear its full amount of fruit in our lives. May it produce in us a pure and holy faithfulness to the One True God.