One way to admire the faithfulness of God in Scripture and stir your heart is to study the history of Israel. I love to study the way God has dealt with Israel over the past 4,000 years. God will deal with His children today the same way His Word says He dealt with the children of Israel. Here we see how our belief in His faithfulness depends upon our belief in His word. Time and time again, Israel turns their back on the Lord. They seem to always want to be like the rest of the world. They choose to sin and choose to worship the idols of their neighboring nations instead of worshiping the true and living God. However, the Lord is always faithful to His name, to His glory, to His covenants, and to His people. Deuteronomy 7:9 says: “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” What a comforting verse. You see God hold to this word throughout Israel’s history. When the children of Israel chose to obey the commands of God, the Israelites always saw God’s provision and protection in their midst. When the nation of Israel did not keep the commandments of God, the Lord was still faithful. Sometimes He would send a prophet on the scene to declare the Word of the Lord over the wickedness of their hearts. Other times He would raise up a nation to bring judgment upon them, so they would turn from their sin and walk in His ways once again. Both ways reveal God’s heart and faithfulness toward Israel.
My two favorite places in the Bible to study God’s faithfulness to Israel are in Hosea and Revelation. Hosea is told to marry Gomer, a harlot. The Lord will not let him divorce her by stirring Hosea’s love for Gomer each time she is unfaithful. Hosea 1:2b says: “And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.” God tells him to do this as a picture of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. Even in their departing from the Lord, God was faithful and loved Israel enough to send to them a prophet. He does this in the hope that His children would turn back to Him. Hosea 2:20 says, “I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.” God has betrothed Himself to a bride that He knew would be unfaithful, yet He stays faithful to her. In Revelation we see God’s faithfulness to remove all that hinders His children from loving Him. The judgments in Revelation are the least amount of judgment that will bring the greatest amount of people into the deepest level of love for their God. Israel will once again say with King David: “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 89:1).
It would take me writing a book to tell you of the faithfulness of God in my personal life, but I do want to mention one fact. The same way that Israel has been unfaithful, I have been even more unfaithful to my loving and faithful Lord and Savior. Over and over in my life, I have seen the goodness and kindness of God. However, so many times I have turned my back on my God and chosen to go about life in my own way. I know that it has not been my faithfulness that has kept me loving and following Jesus. I know it is the other way around. It has been His faithfulness that has kept me upon the path. I absolutely love 2 Timothy 2:13, because it sums up my walk with Christ. It says, “If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.” It is one of the most comforting verses in the Word of God. Trust me. If He can keep me faithful, He can keep anyone faithful. Our God is so AWESOME!
