When you think of the characteristic of faithfulness, what comes to mind?
In today’s world these kind of people are a rare find. Proverbs says: Many a man will proclaim his own loyalty and goodness but who can find a faithful and trustworthy man? (Prov 20:6 Amp).
We’re going to look at a passage of Scripture today from Deut 7:6 – 11, where Moses is reminding God’s people about who God is, and who they are in His eyes, how He loves them as a faithful, steadfast God.
This passage brings out many points but I would like to focus on:
● The Faithfulness of God
● Placing our Faith in God
● Our Faithfulness to God
What does it mean when we say God is faithful?
God faithfully took care of all 2.4 million Israelites, providing for their necessities, miraculously delivering them out of the hand of Pharaoh, the most powerful king from the most powerful nation in the world, protected them from plagues and diseases (v. 15) and gave His people victory over their enemies throughout their journey. God not only delivered them, He promised that they would be blessed above all the nations of the earth. Throughout Deuteronomy, God reminded His people again and again of the reason for all that He did (Deut. 29:6, 7:8-9).
This faithful God is Yahweh, the great I Am (Ex. 15:3; Ps. 83:19; Hos. 12:6; Isa. 42:8) - which is the ultimate statement of self-sufficiency, self-existence, and immediate presence.
He promises that He will be what He will be. He will be the eternally constant God. He stands, ever-present and unchangeable, completely sufficient in Himself to do what He wills to do and to accomplish what He wills to accomplish.
God is faithful to a specific people, to the nation He chose as His treasured possession.
And God is faithful to us - the redeemed in Christ. The promise of God’s faithfulness and steadfast love towards us are unconditional and they are guaranteed by God Himself.
When we speak about the faithful God, we are talking about a God who never falters, never fails, never forgets to keep His word. He never changes. He won’t break His promises. He doesn’t make excuses, doesn’t change His plans.
His faithfulness is not subject to time or circumstances. The promises He made then still hold true today because He does not change (Mal 3:16). He is the God of veracity, of truth - He will never lie to us because He cannot lie.
His faithfulness in all things is an expression of His character. That is why we believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures because God’s Word tells us that heaven and earth will pass away but His word will never pass away (Matt 24:35).
Every word that God has spoken is eternal, fixed and immovable (Psalm 119:89-91). A W Tozer said that God can’t stop being what He is or act out of character with Himself. He is both faithful and unchangeable and that is why all His words and acts must be faithful and remain faithful.
Unwavering, reliable, trustworthy, immovable and steadfast - God is who He is all the time.
Placing our faith in God
-For our eternal destiny
The reality is that God does exist and the beauty of creation - the sun, stars, and moon, the mountains, oceans, testify of God’s reality everyday (Ps 19:1-6).
But because of His steadfast love for His creation, God sent a Redeemer, a Savior, Someone who would satisfy His righteous standard for the payment of sin and guilt and defeat its power and death itself and crush the enemy’s head. That person is Jesus Christ.
This is the Person in whom we place our faith, our trust in for the forgiveness of our sins, for eternal life. In Christ is where every believer finds their identity and their hope of eternal life.
-Placing our faith in God to work on our behalf
Moses said “know” which means to live in the light of the fact of how God faithfully demonstrated His power on their behalf. Moses wanted them to have a life-transforming knowledge of their faithful God (Deut. 7:9–10) and devote their entire beings to living in accordance with his Word (Deut. 7:11)
The faithfulness of God is the ground of our confidence, the foundation of our hope, and the cause of our rejoicing. Knowing that God is faithful fills our hearts with the anticipations that God will perfectly meet our needs, guide us through the toughest of times and answer our prayers in His way and in His perfect time.
In the passage in Deut 7, we see that the blessing is for those who are in the right relationship with Him. We know that as long as Israel was in right relationship with God, as long as they followed the Lord they were truly blessed as a nation, and found every promise which the faithful God made to them fulfilled.
But the OT records the many times they left their relationship with the Lord, took their focus off of Him and onto other things (idols). They not only suffered on a national level but on every level of society.
God wants us to know Him, to trust His faithful character and nature, and not only to place our faith in Him for salvation but to have a growing trust in Him because He has proven His faithfulness to us.
“His words nourish and strengthen our hearts, saves us from our own despair, gives us the courage to carry on in spite of our failures, our frustrations and weaknesses.”
Our Faithfulness to God
God is faithful and immovable and wants us as His children to be faithful and immovable (1 Cor 15:58 ESV).
Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord asking, whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? And Isaiah answered the call to be God’s faithful steward. God asked Ezekiel, “Who will stand in the gap, who will intercede for this nation so that it will be saved from destruction? (Ezek. 22:30)
These are the people that God is actively looking to bless. 2 Chron 16:9 says,
The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (NLT).
Faithfulness to God is the fruit of a Spirit-filled life. The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us.
God has shown Himself to be faithful to us and asks us to walk in a way that is worthy of the calling to which we have been called. This itself is a call to faithfulness (Eph 4:1). Faithful to God in all He has called and equipped you to do.
Prov 28:20 says: A faithful person will be richly blessed. I want to encourage to take time to pray to our steadfast, immovable God, to trust Him for your family, for your friends, to trust Him for the impossible. Let’s confess the areas where we have sinned by not obeying God, where we have held back from Him and ask Him for forgiveness.
Pray for each other, for people you know that do not know God or have hardened their hearts towards Him. Pray for the church, the life groups, and the various ministries. Finally, ask God how you can be used for His kingdom as a faithful steward. Allow Him the freedom to do His work through you.
We keep coming close to Him, walking in truth, believing Him at His word and we keep moving forward.
