God is Faithful

"But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard

you against the evil one." 2 Thessalonians 3:3

By Nicole Cifuentes

Is He Really Faithful?

Friends, we have been going through the characteristics of God for a while now. There are so many amazing parts of God from his powerfulness to his love, God is so many things. What has been hard for me to digest is God’s faithfulness.

Let's get honest for a second. I know in my head that God is faithful. It is written all throughout scripture (Exodus 34:6-7, Psalm 36:5, Psalm 40:11, Lamentations 3:22-23, Micah 7:18-20, 1 Corinthians 1:9, Hebrews 10:23, etc.) and yet my heart doesn’t always feel that way.

Lately it has been really hard to cling to God’s faithfulness. I have always wanted to follow God’s plan for my life, believing he is wise. I thought he had led us to an amazing place in Wyoming. My husband, my parents and I were able to buy a beautiful track of land in 2020. I thought it was a dream come true. It is 40 acres of wild, hilled terrain backing up to open state land. It is filled with pine trees, sagebrush, deer, rabbits, wild turkey, and wildflowers. Each section of our land is unique and different at every turn. It’s my ideal.

We moved our tiny family out to the nearest town in hopes of building our perfect off grid cob house homestead where we would raise and grow our own food. We wanted chickens and goats and horses and giant permaculture gardens overflowing with fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Everything would work in harmony as we built an amazing piece of heaven.

Till obstacle after obstacle started being placed in our way. I won’t go through all the details of problems from jobs to driveways to road issues, but we are two years into being present to build with no hope of starting our dream anytime soon. I feel at a loss.

God is Faithful

The entirety of the Bible speaks to his faithfulness to humanity. Being faithful means steadfast in affection or allegiance, firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty. From the beginning- we messed up and have been the unfaithful, while God has remained faithful to us- seeking us out to bring us back to our original purpose of being with Him. We have always been seeking our own agenda hoping to be as great as God. Eve took the forbidden fruit in hopes to be LIKE God (Genesis 3:4-6). The horrible part- God can’t be near bad. His ultimate goodness doesn’t allow for sin to be around Him. By Adam and Eve taking of the fruit, He was forced to be without the humans that He loved.

His plan- to bring back redemption for man so we can be with Him again. It took quite a while. Before Christ, God called out to humanity to be close. Those who answered saw God’s goodness and faithfulness in their lives. Abraham was promised a family- He is the founder of all of Israel as well as considered the founder of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were promised a great land for their descendants.

Joshua, generations later, led the Israelite's to take over Canaan. Time and time again in the Old Testament, God brings his people back to their original promise. But time and time again, we humans mess up. We break God’s laws, we seek our pagan gods, we live in fear instead of basking in God’s power. Over and over again God gives his people chance after chance to be His people and live in the peace that only comes from Him. He does this all the way through Jesus coming and opening up the way for us to live with God daily through the use of his Holy Spirit. Jesus broke every barrier that held us back from being with God. It’s us who are continually unfaithful.

Remembering His Faithfulness

Even knowing how God prevails throughout the Bible can still sometimes not be enough to get you through a hard time. But luckily our God is indeed All Knowing and Wise and thus has left us with a tool to help us get through these hard times.

Remember what God has done for you. Let His grace and mercy comfort you and remind you of His unfailing love. - Psalm 143:4.

There are two tangible ways we can remember God’s faithfulness in our lives. First, we see it talked about in Deuteronomy. For those who are newer to scripture, Deuteronomy is one of the first books written. It is in the books of law. It is filled with laws and commandments God gave his people from Moses.

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. -Deuteronomy 8:2

God says multiple times to recall the old stories and remind yourselves and your children of God’s faithfulness to their people. These stories help us to see his goodness and want to continue following his rules and guidelines as we know He ultimately works for our good.

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. -Deuteronomy 6:7-9

As you begin to have instances where God takes care of you (and He will!) Be sure to write them down and read them to your children. I remember a few specific times when God came through in big ways for me. One time I was low on funds and running out of gas in my car. I needed to make it to the church I served in and knew I didn’t have enough gas. Just as God gave the widow jars and jars of oil, God kept my tank full until my next paycheck. When times get lean, I remember that, and I can’t wait to share that with my children.

The other way God teaches to help remember is with a physical object. In the story of Joshua, the Israelite's are finally out of their 40-year journey in the desert. They are ready to head across the Jordan and into the promised land. The story is the lesser-known parting of the seas story (check in out in your application time) but before they cross, God commands each tribal leader to get a large rock. They stack these rocks high in the middle of the river to be seen even after the waters come back:

He said to the Israelite's, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’- Joshua 4:21-22

The rocks served as a reference point for the children of Israel again to be told about when God took care of and was faithful to his people. When you have your moment that God is faithful in your life, remember to grab a momentum. It can be as simple as a hospital bracelet from when he carried you through an illness to something as simple as the key to your first house. Display these items in a prominent place in your home where you will see it and reflect on God’s faithfulness in your life.

Closing:

It’s so easy in moments that don’t go our way to believe that God has forsaken us. That the things he called us to will never happen or to question if we were even called to it in the first place. It’s in these moments we must cling to God’s faithfulness. We must remember God brings us not to the easiest path, but the one that will refine us the most.

2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

God brings us along some hard paths to bring us to repentance. His ultimate (what should also be ours) goal is not about making us well known or fulfilling our every whim. No, it’s to make us like Him, bringing us closer to Him through repentance.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 - Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Remember God’s faithfulness not just to his people, but to you. He will carry you through.

Prayer:

God our Holy God, Help me to see your faithfulness in my life today. Bring to mind the times that you have carried me through and been working in my life. Thank you, God, for never giving up on your children. Thank you for carrying us through thousands of years of us running, yet you still try every day to bring us back to you. You are loyal to us even when we are disloyal to you. You continue to be strong and forgiving even as we do wrong. Thank you, God, for renewing me daily. You are an amazing God.

______________ Hey sweet lady, we want to take a quick minute to guide your next steps with the scripture and application portion. We believe that in order to truly grow closer to God, we need to spend time dwelling on what he’s trying to teach us and not rush through it. We encourage you to spend a full week dwelling on this devotional and all it has to offer you. That means you can save some of the scripture passages for another day or re-read them in the week. We also encourage you to take your time with the application portion. You can sit in each prompt until you feel God revealing his truths to you. Don’t rush, take time to truly get to know him better by sitting in what he’s trying to teach you this week. That's where your faith will grow.

Scripture for Deeper Study:

• Romans 3

• Joshua 1-4

• Psalm 91

Application:

• Journal where God has been most faithful in your life.

• Write your favorite verse about God’s faithfulness from above and share it with your children or friends. Explain why it speaks to you.

• Find one object to help you remember God’s faithfulness and put it in a prominent place.

• Think about God’s story of redemption and how it shows He is faithful. Praise God for it.