Just a quick reminder that Pastor Fred preached on Gods faithfulness this weekend. Fred started off by diving into Lamentations 3. I will start with a question. How many of us has that one friend who tells it like it is and that tact is not in the top ten of their spiritual giftings? They will stick with you through the thick and thin, but warm fuzzies aren’t their thing. I feel that the Old Testament prophets are those type of friends, because they deliver Gods message to His people no matter the consequences. Jeremiah, the author of the book of Lamentations is one of those type of friends. In the book, he is lamenting how the people of God are in exile, Jerusalem is in ruins and the few people that do remain have no place to worship. Jeremiah is venting about the condition of everything around him, but in chapter 3 of Lamentations he declares that God is faithful and that His mercies are new every morning. So what can we meditate on about Gods faithfulness and goodness, especially with Thanksgiving right around the corner.
The first thing that Gods faithfulness is that it is not fickle. His faithfulness is at the very core of who He is. If God wasn’t faithful, that means water wouldn’t be wet. God is always there giving out grace and love even went we are not faithful to Him. In the famous hymn come thou fount of every blessing there is the famous line of:
Prone to wondering, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love
Even though we get on rabbit trails or develop a squirrel mentality, God doesn’t. We can always go back and find God with a repentant and He will take us back with open arms like what the father did with the Prodical Son.
My second observation is that Gods faithfulness is not ment for one person or a group of people. Every person is created in Gods image and that means His faithfulness is for all of us. John 3:16 tells us that. Also we can’t earn Gods grace or faithfulness because He gives it freely. But here is the kicker, Gods faithfulness demands and even requires a response. We all have a choice to either accept Gods grace and faithfulness or we can choose something else. It maybe cool in the short term but eventually the chickens will come home to roost and we will have to deal with those consequences, but God will be there because His faithfulness is not dependent on us and if it was, He would be God
Finally, at some point in our lives we will go through that valley where we feel that we are alone and nothing is going right. It could be because that there is a strain in the relationships we hold dear, we received some not so great news from our boss or doctor, or we could be at a point where we can’t find God no matter what we do. Hang in there and God is still there. Take time to pray, read Scripture and find a friend that can be honest with you. A part of that is to have that friend listen and to hold you up in prayer and accountability. I heard a quote somewhere that we “got to know when to keep bang on the situation and when to let it go.” Having faith is knowing when to keep on banging and when to let it go. One last illustration. One time I was in that valley and I had a friend go Old Testament prophet on me in a good way and told me as much as we want that mountain top experience, the oxygen one the nutritional grass is in the valley. This is where we grow and where God ultimately provides His faithfulness in the daily care for us and for us to rely on Him because we seek His face above all else
Grace and Peace
Tom Boustead
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