THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD

Text: "Great is Thy faithfulness."--Lamentations 3:23

Moses, the servant of God, testified the Lord is "The faithful God."--Deuteronomy 7:8

Isaiah called God, "The Lord that is faithful."--Isaiah 49:7

The Psalmist confessed, "Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds,"--Psalm 36:5, and Paul said, "God is faithful."--I Corinthians 1:9; 10:13. Again, Paul encouraged, "Faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it;"--I Thessalonians 5:24, and "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful."--II Timothy 2:13

The writer of Hebrews exhorts, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering: for He is faithful that promised."

"Wherefore," Peter admonishes, "let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator."

And John witnesses, "He is faithful."--I John 1:9

In Genesis 8:22, God made a covenant whereby He promised as long as the earth remained, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night should continue. Has God made a breach of His word?

Likewise in Genesis 9:12-17, God made another covenant with every living creature for perpetual generations that water should no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. The sign of that faithfulness has been the presence of the rainbow in the clouds. In the six verses, God reiterates His promise five times. Has He broken His word?

Remember how God was faithful to Abraham? "Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of;" --Genesis 28:15, and He did not.

And did not the Lord visit Sarah as He had said? And did He not do unto her as He had spoken? --Genesis 21:1.

Then as God had promised to Jacob, Israel left Egypt 430 years, even to the day that Jacob went down to see Joseph, and in this promise, Joseph had trusted--Genesis 46:3,4; 50:24.

Joshua testified in his old age, "Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof."--Joshua 23:14. "There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass."--Joshua 21:45

David rejoiced, "O Lord God, Thou art that God, and Thy words be true, and Thou hast promised this goodness unto Thy servant...."--II Samuel 7:28

On his deathbed, David voiced his confidence in his God: "He hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure."--II Samuel 23:5

Solomon admitted God’s faithfulness to his father David as well as to Israel: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which with His mouth unto David father, and hath with spake my His hand fulfilled it." "The Lord hath performed His work that He spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel."--I Kings 8:15,20

Again, Solomon declared, "Lord God of Israel, there is no God like Thee, in Heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their heart: who has kept with Thy servant David my father that Thou promisedst him: Thou spakest also with Thy mouth and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day."--I Kings 8:23,24

And again, he rejoiced, "Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto His people Israel, according to all that He promised: there hath not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant."--I Kings 8:56

Nehemiah acknowledged, "Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; and founded his heart faithful before Thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites... to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed Thy words; for Thou art righteous."--Nehemiah 9:7,8

David testified, "They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee." "The Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved forever." "I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation: I have not concealed Thy

Lovingkindness and Thy truth from the, great congregation."--Psalm 9:10; 37:28; 40:10

Ethan, the Psalmist, in his classic Psalm proclaiming the faithfulness of God, he writes, "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations...Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens....The Heaven’s shall praise Thy wonders, O Lord: Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints .... O Lord God of Hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee? or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee?"--The 89th Psalm: 1,2,5,8

When referring to the Godly man, the Lord assures, "My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him:"..."My mercy will I keep for Him for evermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with Him."..."My Lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."--The 89th Psalm: 24,28,33,34

Many of the sweetest Psalms were written anonymously. These too proclaim the faithfulness of God. "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O most High: To show forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night."--Psalm 92:1,2

The writer of the hundredth Psalm reminds us, "The Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth endureth to all generations."--verse 5.

The 119th Psalm is a collection of various anonymous writings. The writer of the 9th division reminds us in verse 65, "Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according unto Thy Word." And the 90th verse tells us, "Thy faithfulness is unto all generations; Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth."

What comfort there is in knowing "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."--Psalm 121:3,4

"Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord His God which made Heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth forever."--Psalm 146:5,6

TO BE CONTINUED

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