Reflecting on God’s Faithfulness
But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
There is nothing more important in times of transition, closure or upheaval than to reflect on God’s faithfulness to you in the past. Many things may be changing in your life. Changing faster than you can keep up with and it’s overwhelming you. Maybe things are staying the same and you have prayed for months or years that something would change and it seems nothing ever does and it is depressing you. Perhaps you’re in a situation that is stressful or is producing a lot of physical or emotional pain and you are scared of the looming outcome. Here is an eternal fact that will make a difference no matter what your situation may be. The Lord of the Universe, the Hope of the World, the Soveign Authority of All History isn’t changing. He’s still the same steadfast, loving Savior and Lord that has always been there for you and helped you
“I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. . . . Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty (Malachi 3:6–7).
How can this truth of God’s dependable, unchanging nature help you? It can remind you that nothing you are facing or are about to face is impossible for God and you to handle.
“God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
God’s unchanging nature can also remind you of who is in control of your future (and it’s not you!).
How can reflecting on God’s past faithfulness help you? First, it can give you insight as to how God tends to challenge you, what you tend to be weak in, ways the enemy typically gets at you, what your anxieties are and what your long-standing hopes and desires are.
Reflection can also help you examine whether you have been faithful, in turn, to God and the people he has put in your life. So how do you reflect? There are a few ways that I’ve found helpful. Why not try a few of these?
Read God’s word
“….So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17)
As you read the Word, meditate on God’s characteristics as you study—think of ways these attributes can encourage you as you face problems in your world. Another approach is to read over passages that were particularly helpful to you in the past—perhaps they were underlined in red on a rainy day, way back. Chances are those passages are still relevant to your situation; think about them with yourself in the place of the person dealing with God. Meditate on God’s characteristics as you study in order to remind yourself that He is eternally, loving, gracious, merciful, longsuffering and yes, faithful!
Journal
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart. (Proverbs 3:3)
What have you struggled with over the last year? What were you praying for? How did God answer? Whether you’ve been keeping a journal for years or are just starting to maintain a record of your life events and thoughts is perhaps one of the most insightful steps in this process of recalling God’s goodness to you. The ways God steadies your stumbling steps, leads you in your misguided moves and breaks through when you’re going around in circles become more and more apparent as you look at your own history.
A journal can illuminate the patterns of behavior that you have struggled with and how God has dealt with you. Perhaps you won’t get many mountaintop revelations, but often, rereading a journal can be most effective in just encouraging you: “Gosh, look at the dumb things I was worried about” or “Boy, look how God took care of this” or “Why was I stressing over that?” I just have to laugh at myself sometimes when I re-read my journal—agonizing over my image, my future, my welfare etc.
Also, your journal can remind you of a time in your life when you were perhaps more in tune with the Lord, more dedicated to spiritual discipline. That’s definitely been true for me recently. Pouring over my journal and reflecting on memories, I have been seeking to answer questions like “What was I doing right before? How was I submitting to His will at that time? Why am I not doing that now?” Falling backward in my walk with God is one of the hardest things to repent. But such reflections have helped me get back on track—my journal reminded me of how satisfying a high level of commitment was when I was in God’s will, how great it felt and how much fruit it yielded by God’s grace. God wants us to move forward instead of backward, and he can build on our past experience to show us even more of Him and His ways
Remember
"For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers. Remember, He gave His oath to them” Deuteronomy 4:31
Notice ways God was faithful to the men and women of Scripture and how those situations relate to you. Hebrews 11 is a good place to start. It’s a great “hall of fame” of faithfulness between God and his people. God’s eternal principles never change: when we follow His commands, we get blessed in the process. His Word records His Faithfulness to men and women who belonged to Him, who called upon His name: Like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Esther, the Nation of Israel, the Disciples and the Apostle Paul just to name a few. What has been true in the relationship between God and these is also true in our relationship with God. There may be memories that come back to you every so often that didn’t make it into your journal but can bring insight about where you are with God and where He may be taking you. They may be painful or they may be joyful, but they are part of the fabric of your life. Ultimately, the idea of reflecting on God’s faithfulness to you isn’t meant to ram you into a touchy-feely corner of longing for the past. On the contrary, the lesson to take away is this: if he was faithful then, he’ll be faithful now as you move forward because he doesn’t change. He loves us too much and has sacrificed too much not to be faithful to us now. Even if he surprises you with unexpected change, the truth remains: “I the Lord do not change.” He who calls you is faithful.
Acknowledge and Commit
We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ (Ephesians 4:14–15).
When we respond to His grace by putting our trust in Christ, we enter into an intimate, covenant relationship with God. Though our response should be a life of faithful service to God in the world, we slip up, living for ourselves rather than for our Lord. Yet God does not abandon us. His faithfulness continues even when ours fails. The God of the Bible has kept His promises for far longer than we have been on the Earth. Trust in Him now because He is real and He is Faithful!
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: When you think of the faithfulness of God, what images or experiences come to mind? How have you experienced God’s faithfulness even when you have been unfaithful?
PRAYER: Gracious God, how grateful I am for your faithfulness. You are faithful, Lord, even when I am not. For centuries your faithfulness has not been nullified by the failure of your people. I have experienced this grace so many times. Thank you, Lord, for not abandoning me when I have neglected you. Thank you for turning my despair into hope. Thank you for always being there for me. O Lord, how great is your faithfulness!
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
Everything around us has the potential to change. But God is forever the same. He’s an immovable rock and a firm foundation on which we can fully rely.
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness!”
Bible Quotes on God's Faithfulness to His Children
Deuteronomy 4:31
For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.
Deuteronomy 7:9
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
1 Kings 8:20
The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
1 Samuel 15:29
He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind."
1 Kings 8:56
Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people
Psalm 9:10
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 36:5
Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Psalm 40:10
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.
Psalm 89:2, 8
I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself... O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.
Psalm 89:33
but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
Psalm 92:1-2
It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,
Psalm 105:8
He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations
Psalms 111:5
He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.
Psalm 117
Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.
Psalm 119:89-90
Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures.
Psalm 119:160
All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.
Psalm 143:1
O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.
Isaiah 25:1
O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.
Isaiah 46:11b
What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
Isaiah 49:7
This is what the LORD says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel— to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
Lamentations 3:22-24
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
Romans 3:3-4
What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."
1 Corinthians 1:9
God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
2 Corinthians 1:20
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.
I Thessalonians 5:23-24
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
I John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Revelation 19:11
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.
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