“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:9
Yesterday we learned that God is faithful because of His nature. He cannot be unfaithful. Although the Bible gives us many other aspects of God’s nature which make Him faithful, yesterday we discussed three: His holiness, His immutability, and His omnipotence. He cannot lie; He does not make a promise and change His mind; and He has the power to do what He promises.
Do you know anyone else like this?
You don’t. Neither do I. Yet, we doubt God. We judge His faithfulness by the standard of all those who have been unfaithful to us. In fact, we judge God by a standard of faithfulness that we, ourselves, cannot, and have not, adhered to. And thus, we do not yield our life to His full control. But, my friend, God is so merciful and kind. He knows the limitations of our puny faith in Him and so He gives us proof of His faithfulness.
What is this proof?
Well, we could talk about all the things God does every day—like maintaining the balance of Creation and giving us life and a heartbeat. We could talk about Jesus fulfilling every prophecy about the Messiah in the Old Testament. We could talk about a lot of opportunities we have today which are proof of God’s faithfulness. But let’s examine a piece of evidence we will call “Exhibit A” which can irrefutably be established from both world history and God’s Word.
“Exhibit A” is the Nation of Israel.
Over 4000 years ago, God made a promise to Abraham that his descendants would grow to be a mighty people. He promised Abraham that He would give those descendants the land of Palestine as their eternal possession. He promised Abraham that his people would be preserved by God forever. That they would never disappear.
And even though, throughout the centuries, the Jewish people have actually done their best to thwart God’s promise—they are still here. For example, they built the golden calf on Mount Sinai; they rejected the priesthood because they wanted a monarchy; and—over and over again—they rejected God, worshipped idols, and they lost His supernatural protection, so their nation was taken captive.
They even rejected their own Messiah and crucified Him.
But God‘s promise to Abraham survived the burning of the city of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. God’s promise survived the Jewish people being scattered all over the globe; God’s promise survived Hitler and his “final solution;” God’s promise survived the Seven Day War; and most recently, God’s promise to Abraham survived the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.
God is not only preserving the Jewish people, but He continues to secure the land He promised to Abraham. In the entire history of the world, there has never been a people who completely lost their homeland and got it back. Furthermore, never in the history of the world has there been a living spoken language—like Hebrew—which died out as a spoken language and was then revived. If you look at the size of this speck of land called “Israel” you might wonder how in the world this tiny nation, representing .2% of the world’s population, has survived against the odds.
It is the faithfulness of God.
Over the past 4,000 years, God has crushed super powers and demonstrated He will do whatever it takes to keep the promise He made to Abraham and his people.
God can; He is; and He will.
I was in Jerusalem a couple of years ago. While I stood on the Mount of Olives, prayed at the Wailing Wall and walked the Via Dolorosa, I was gripped by the truth that I was watching a faithful God keep His promise to Abraham. I had an overwhelming sense of God’s faithfulness to me.
Keep in mind that God isn’t keeping His promise because the Jewish people are such good folks that He decided to reward them. God is keeping His promise because He is God. Like we learned yesterday, it is in God’s nature to keep His promises. He is holy, loving, immutable, and powerful.
If God didn’t break His Word to Abraham over the last 4000 years, my friend, God is not going to break His promises to you!
The Bible says:
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
So what are some of these promises that God has given to you and me? What are the promises to us that reflect His faithfulness? God’s promises to you and me are what we will discuss in tomorrow’s devotional.
