Attributes of God - Faithfulness

We are going to start looking at the attributes or the character of God for the next few Sundays.  First, who is God?  He is the sum of all His attributes.  Each attribute or characteristic we find perfected in God.  In fact, all other expressions of that attribute are mere reflections of that characteristic that is perfected in God.  Faithfulness is one of God’s attributes.  All the characteristics of God are perfect and in perfect harmony with one another.  Just like the facets on a diamond, each cut makes a surface on the diamond, and light goes in and out of all the surfaces making a sparkle.  If one surface is marred you do not have a diamond that will sparkle like a flawless diamond. Each perfect surface is like one of the attributes of God.  If God was faithful but He was not totally righteous, what is it that He would be faithful to?  If God is love but is not just then what does He love?  You see how the attributes of God interact and are perfected by the other attributes?  If anyone were missing, none would be perfect. Today we will look at His faithfulness, and the Lord willing, in the coming weeks we will look at the other facets of the diamond of His character such as sovereignty, mercy, grace, love, justice and maybe a few others.  It is very important that we understand God’s character.  It is His character that sets the standard for right and wrong.  It is because He is faithful that we should be faithful.  Have you ever thought about what makes something right or wrong? It is not just because God says so, for anyone can make a demand.  It is right because it is godly, like God.  This concept is almost lost in today’s society.  Abortion isn’t wrong just because God says “Thou shalt not kill”, but because in Him is Life.  Lies are not wrong just because God tells us not to lie, although that is reason enough.  The greatest reason is because God is true. As we enter this subject we are standing on holy ground.  We are not walking on the disputable territory of the opinions of men but the Word of Scripture.  How do we know God is faithful?  The word of God tells us so, and He cannot lie.  He has proven Himself faithful in the lives of the characters throughout Scripture. You will see that when His faithfulness is mentioned often another characteristic of God is mentioned alongside it.

(Exodus 34:5-7) reads ⁵The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. ⁶ Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; ⁷ who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Here God declares Himself to be abounding in faithfulness.  The Hebrew word used here for faithfulness is emeth. It is used in Genesis 24:27 when the servant of Abraham looks for a wife for Isaac and is led right to her; he declares that God has been emeth with Abraham. God answered Abraham’s prayer and provided a wife for Isaac.  That was an expression of God’s abounding faithfulness. Faithfulness is translated ‘true’ in the King James.  Strong’s concordance says emeth means: firm, sure, reliable, and stable.  That is what God declares Himself to be.

Hasn’t He proven Himself emeth with you? Has He answered your prayers and provided for your needs?  Have you found Him to be reliable?  Then you have experienced His faithfulness.  I can certainly tell you He has been faithful toward me.  Even when I was faithless, ignoring His warnings, fighting His Holy Spirit, He was faithful. He was faithful to discipline me, faithful to continually to convict me when I walked in rebellion, faithful to provide a way to escape, faithful to bring brothers and sisters to help, faithful to teach me. He has been nothing but faithful (emeth) to me.  (Deuteronomy 7:9) says ⁹ Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His loving kindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.  In this passage the Hebrew word we look at is aman: To support, confirm, and be faithful – It is used of the support pillars for a door. Here it is used in connection with His covenant of love. He is the One that confirms it and supports it. “He is the faithful God,” means you can count on His love continuing in your life. Where do you run when the earth shakes?  Between the door pillars, the faithfulness of God! Where do those who do not know God run when there is trouble?  There is no one else that can support us like God can.  (Deuteronomy 32:4) says ⁴ “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.  Here the word ‘faithful’ is Emunah – firm, steadfast – You can count on God to do what is right with consistency. He is never one way this week and another way the next week.  He is steadfast!  When you go to Him, you always know what to expect.  He’ll never be out to lunch, sleeping on the job, not ready to hear your need.  No, our God is steadfast.  He is always on the side of good because He is good. (Psalms 36:5) states ⁵ Your loving kindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  His love and faithfulness are always bigger than our need.  I’ve been tempted to doubt God’s faithfulness and His dependability.  I think we all have doubted.  If we did not doubt we would believe every word of Scripture as if it was a contract with the most capable, most dependable person to ever live.  Come to think of it, it is!  Has there ever been anyone more capable, more dependable than Jesus?  Then why do we not utterly trust His every Word?  We certainly should.

(Psalms 86:14-15) reads ¹⁴O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, And a band of violent men have sought my life, And they have not set You before them. ¹⁵But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in faithfulness and truth.  Abounding faithfulness!  When we are under attack, when it seems like everyone is against us, we can count on the abounding love and faithfulness of our Father. He is seeking our best, in contrast to those that seek to harm us. Compassionate and gracious, abounding in love and faithfulness, what an awesome God! (Psalms 89:1-2) says  ¹ I will sing of the loving kindness of the LORD forever; To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.  ² For I have said, Loving kindness will be built up forever;  In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness.”  David wanted to tell every generation of God’s faithfulness. The youth can trust Him to raise them up to be men and women of God. The adults can trust His faithfulness in guiding them into the ministry He is leading them into.  The aged can count on His faithfulness to see them through to their heavenly home.  He says the foundation of this faithfulness, this eternal love of God, is fixed in heaven itself, not here on this changeable realm.  He is faithful to you because He has set His love on you.  (Psalms 91:4) says ⁴ He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.  (2 Thess. 3:3) says ³ But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.  His faithfulness protects you. You must realize that Satan would destroy you in a minute because he came to kill, steal and destroy, but the Lord is faithful to protect you!  Take that protection away for an instant and we would be gone.  Thank God for His faithful covering. Don’t step out from under it. Walk in obedience.  (Psalms 119:75) reads ⁷⁵ I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. Illness can be an expression of His faithfulness.  If there is something we need to learn or somebody treating us needs to learn through us, His faithful love will bring us into affliction and through it if it is His will and the lessons have been taught. (Isaiah 25:1) says  ¹ O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. All He does is in perfect faithfulness.  You will notice that perfection is applied to all His attributes.  There is not a flaw in His faithful acts.  All that God has planned will happen, and it is all planned in consistency with His perfect faithfulness. We are  used to thinking of God as being like man that sometimes we have a hard time  grasping how perfect and wonderful He is.  He is utterly trustworthy.  Where are you placing your trust?  

(Lamentations 3:22-23) reads ²² The LORD’S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.  His love and compassion are always new every morning – what great faithfulness! (1 Thess 5:23-24) ²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. We wonder if we are ever going to be made into the image of the Son of God.  Well, this passage declares that the One who called you is faithful, and He will do it.  He will present you faultless before the throne of God.  Thank God it is not up to my faithfulness or yours, but His!  Whew!  What a relief! Turn to the person sitting next to you and say, “I’m glad it’s not up to you.”  Now tell them, “I’m glad it’s not up to me.” The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.   (1 Cor 10:13) ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

God is faithful to limit our temptations to what we can bear, and in our temptations to provide a way out. He doesn’t leave us in there to be clobbered in our weak areas.  He provides an escape in His faithfulness, but we must chose to enter the escape He provides. He has always provided a way of escape for me.  He always has and always will for you too. (1 Peter 4:19) says ¹⁹ Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right. Troubles in this fallen world and persecution from the ungodly may cause us to suffer, but remember God is the faithful Creator. Commit yourself to Him and keep on being obedient. Count on His presence and His promises to see you through. He’s never failed me yet, and He never will. He may not always do things according to my wishes, but He will be faithful to do what is good.  (1 John 1:9) says ⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When we confess our sins, He does not debate forgiveness, hold a grudge or put our past works on a scale, NO; He faithfully forgives us because of what his Son did for us.  (Rev 19:11)  ¹¹ And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. Jesus name is Faithful and True.  The Old Testament word for faithful was often translated true.  He is truth, and because of that He is also faithful.  Here faithfulness is mentioned alongside justice.  God’s love is His faithfulness toward those who receive what Jesus has done for them, and His wrath is His faithful justice toward those who reject Him and all the goodness that He is. From these passages we have a clear picture of faithfulness how it is displayed toward our lives.  Let me go over these Biblical implications of the faithfulness of God as declared in these passages. He is dependable to answer our prayers and to meet our needs.  We can count on His love continuing in our lives. He will always be consistent. In every thing He does and in all His ways, faithfulness is displayed. It is limitless.  It never changes.  It seeks what is best for us.  It protects us. Sometimes it afflicts us to teach us.  It assures us that all God’s promises will be kept.  It is perfect.  It brings new compassion each morning.  It will see us to be made complete, blameless in body, soul and spirit. It limits our temptations, providing a way out of temptation.  When we confess sin it applies forgiveness and cleansing.  It is inseparable from truth and it should be a part of our character.

We may believe God is faithful but do we act on it?  To act on His faithfulness means not to worry about tomorrow.  It means fretting and fear have no place in our lives, for God is entirely trustworthy.  It should give us a sense of peace regardless of our situation.  We will all face times when it will be hard to see His faithful love in circumstances in our lives, but if we believe what we know of His character, we can praise God in the midst of the trial, knowing He is faithful.  In the Psalms, David pours out his complaint to the Lord and then says, “But in the past You delivered me and I know You will do it again.” Then he begins to praise God. That was His confidence in God who is always faithful. He has delivered you in the past and He will deliver you in the future. Today, faithfulness has hit an all-time low in our society in almost every area you can think of.  Since God is calling us to the faithfulness that is His own character, how does this work in your life?  How can you express His faithfulness to your  spouse, children, employer or employees, and those you see every day?  Can they see God’s faithfulness in your actions? Is God calling you into a deeper walk of faithfulness today?  And how will you let Him express it in you? He is faithful and He will help you to live in an expression of His faithfulness if you are willing.  When I look back on my life, I see many times when I doubted the faithfulness of God. HE was faithful, even when I was not.  If you are in a time of wondering, let me encourage you that one day you will see that God has been faithful.  I say that with all certainty. One day you will see that His faithfulness has never wavered.  It never has and never will. Just as God is good all the time, He is faithful all the time.   I have shared with you these Scriptures and some of their implications so you can examine how God desires to work into your heart and life.  He wants sons and daughters that look like Him.  Be a godly expression of faithfulness in the world in response to His faithfulness to you.