God is faithful

Your unfailing love, O Lord is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.

Psalm 36:5

Dear friends, I am happy to continue the mini-series concerning God's character traits.

In last month's blog we got to know God as loving Creator and Father and I hope that it helped you being more relaxed in your relationship with God: Relax, God is love and is on your side!

Today I want to talk to you about God's faithfulness. The Bible is full of verses that confirm God's faithfulness: He is the Faithful Creator, the Faithful Giver, God is faithful to forgive our sins etc. As I have already said in my last blog faithfulness, like every other character trait of God, expresses what God is like in His nature and His way of acting. That means that He is faithful by nature and accordingly everything He does is done in a faithful way. In addition to that, God's faithfulness is the reason of our hope in the present and in the future. Only if we have the full certainty that God is faithful we can live in peace (without worries) and look confidently towards the future because His covenant and His promises are build upon His faithfulness! Halleluja!

Being faithful means to constantly and patiently do the right things - It means being trustworthy, reliable and loyal concerning people, tasks or promises.

God's faithfulness shows itself in His essential traits:

- God is always present: He is faithful in His presence, He will never leave us, give us up nor forsake us. Matthew 28:20 confirms that: "... And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." God is everywhere and every time with us whether we are in Europa, Africa, in the bush or in the desert, God is always present. He is with us at work, at school, in the university, in the tram, at the toilette, etc. As a believer He lives in us through His Holy Ghost and He is always with us whether we feel it or not. A faithful person is somebody who is always present. You cannot gain the titel of a faithful employee, father or mother if you are always absent or show up irregularly at work or at home with your children. What does God's presence mean to us? We can always and everywhere talk to Him and be certain that He listens to us. No matter in which situation we are in, God is always present and He is ready to help us because HE never gets tired or slumber (Psalm 121:3) and He promised to never leave us nor forsake us(Hebrews 13:5).

- God is always the same: God's faithfulness shows itself by HIM never changing. He is the same God Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow! He lifts up these faithful traits in Malachi 3:6 "I am the Lord and I do not change." He is the same with the rich ones and the beggars, He is the same God with the academic and the analphabet, He is the same God who set the children of Israel free from slavery with His power, He is the same God who rose Jesus from the dead, He is the same who fulfilled all of those wonders in the Bible and He is still the same God today. James 1:17 says "... he never changes or casts a shifting shadow". That means He has never changed at all and He will never change! So we can be sure that He is still able to set us free, help us, heal us, bless us, promote us, etc., He will bring us to the "promised land" like He has promised!

- God never lies: God has never lied, He cannot and will never lie because you cannot rely on somebody who lies, right? God shows us in Proverbs 6:16-19what He thinks of lying: "There are six things the Lord hates. ... a lying tongue, ... a false witness who pours out lies..." God repeats twice that He despises lies! This shows us that lying does not match His nature and we all know who the father of lies is…God's nature is the truth, that's why He always does just as He promised. We can rely on Him and trust His Word because "God is not a man, so He does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change His mind. Has He ever spoken and failed to act? Has He ever promised and not carried it through?." (Numbers 23:19). There is nothing more to add!

Can you rely on somebody who is never there for you? Can you trust somebody who always changes his mood or opinion and lies? I don't think so! Fortunately, God is not like that. He is unshakeable, unchangeable, absolute reliable and faithful. God is always present, He never changes and never lies. You can rely on Him at any time and any place!