Great Is His Faithfulness!!

Psalm 18:25-26a:

"With the faithful You prove Yourself faithful;
with the blameless man You prove Yourself blameless;
with the pure You prove Yourself pure"

Psalm 33:18-19

"Now the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him-
those who depend on His faithful love to deliver them from death
and to keep them alive in famine."

1 Corninthians 1:9

"God is faithful; by Him you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

As I was looking through God's Word last night, I came across these passages that reaffirmed God's consistency in all our lives.

He is faithful.

In fact, in my new Bible I got for Father's Day, the NIV Archeological Bible (very cool maps & commentaries in it) the word "faithful" (faithful, faithfully, faithfulness, faith) is mentioned over 420 times. If something is mentioned that often and reinforced time & time again, there's got to be something to it, right?

What it says to me is that God is faithful in ALL things...what He says, what He does, how He does it, where He is. I don't know what kind of week (or month) you may have been going through but for me, there has been a real season of spiritual plateauing. It seems like I've been doing what I'm supposed to do, like reading His Word, spending time with Him and allowing Him to use me according to His will.

Yet through all that, it's kinda been like "OK God...I'm here and I'm listening. What do you want to say today?"

What I feel like God has been doing through me during this time is actually refining me a bit more. You know, we all have a few rough edges and every once in a while, the Potter needs to bring us into the shop and smooth those corners off, sometimes reshaping us, remolding us and getting the impurities out of the way so we can be created (ie: used) by Him. Sometimes that means that WE have to get out of the way to let HIM do what needs to be done in our lives.

But as His Word says so very often, He will never leave nor forsake us. He is faithful to be with us and what He says He will do, He does.

One of my favorite verses is 1 John 1:9. Again, keeping with the subject of God's faithfulness it says:

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous (just) to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

I don't know about you but that passage just excites me and gives me such hope. In all the things I do and all the screwups I make, when I go to the Father for repentance, God is faithful to meet me, forgive me and make me better than I was before.

This God, the One who created Heaven and Earth, who hung the stars in the sky, who knows the plight of the sparrow yet cares so much more for you and me, who knows the number of hairs on my head...

the One who knows my name...

the One who sent His Son to die for MY sins...

the One who reigns for ever and ever...

He is faithful to me.

How awesome a thought is that? Someone so mighty and powerful cares for "such a worm as I". I don't know about you but that humbles me immensely yet it also gives me more hope & joy than anything this world could offer.

Oh, the words of these 2 incredible hymns are in my heart & mind today. Would you sing them with me right now?

"He leadeth me, He leadeth me
By His own hand He leadeth me
His faithful follower I would be
For by His hand He leadeth me."

"Great is Thy faithfulness,
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see,
ALL I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me."

Thank you Jesus for Your faithfulness!! You are worthy of all our praise!