We have faith in Him because He has proven to be faithful!!
In the previous devotional, I shared that Psalm 105 is about God’s faithfulness. Verse 1 began with:
“Oh give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! “
This Psalm goes on to recount God’s faithfulness to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God’s promise to Abraham was first made in Genesis 12:1-3.
At this time in history, Abraham lived in Ur. The Bible tells us he was a Chaldean. This group of people were pagans or idol worshipers. Abraham & Sarah were barren at this time. God gives Abraham a couple of instructions:
1. Leave your country.
2. Leave your father’s house.
God’s promises several blessings to Abraham:
1. I will show you a new land. 2. I will make you a great nation. 3. I will bless you.
4. I will make your name great. 5. You will be a blessing. 6. I will bless those who bless you.
7. I will curse him who curses you. 8. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
In this covenant, the Lord asks Abraham to do two things, but He promises him eight things. Abraham is expected to let go of his surroundings, his natural family that has defined him for all his life, & the comfort of a known and established place. All this took trust on Abraham’s part. He had to believe God that what God had for him was far better than what he had, and it was worth letting go of it all and looking to His Lord to fill his empty hands.
On the other hand, The Lord’s promises were gigantic. They were not the kind that if God changed His mind or possibly forgot, Abraham could muster up zeal, will-power, or energy to make them happen. Those promises are divine promises accomplished only by the one who made them. They are custom-made by God!!! How do you find a new land when you are not a warrior? How do you become a great nation when all you have is an old wife, and a nephew? How does your name become great when you started out as nobody and now you will even become a bigger nobody since you are moving into a new land where no one knows you?
What does it mean to be a blessing since this whole time Abraham has lived a pagan life which would be a life centered on self? The Lord will bless those that bless Abraham. Why would anyone want to bless a stranger? Wow! If they dare to curse him, he has the Lord on his side to curse them since he would be a powerless stranger in a new land. Then the largest promise of all is made by the Lord of the universe. All the families of the earth will be blessed. Is that humanly possible? What does it really even mean to bless all the families on the earth? Those were prophetic words that only on God’s timetable would have been revealed.
The Lord made some God-size promises and it would have taken the faithfulness of God to accomplish them.
In verses 8-9, the scripture says: “He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham and His oath to Isaac.”
Then towards the end of this Psalm in verse 42 it says, “For He remembered His holy promise, And Abraham His servant.”
In between verses 8 and 42, the Psalmist recounts God’s faithfulness to the seed of Abraham, then Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Then it describes bringing out the Israelites out of Egypt by sending plagues, so Pharaoh would release them. He fed them in the dessert with Manna and quail and provided water out of the rocks like a river.
From the time God promised Abraham to become a great nation until he gave him a son by Sarah, it took 25 years!! I would have been embarrassed to have mentioned God’s promise to anyone. While everybody is having grandchildren, Abraham is still waiting for the one child!!! The recount of God’s faithfulness just in the examples provided happened over the centuries!! God uses time as one of his tools, but He is not limited to time to fulfill what He has spoken. What God spoke, He was faithful to accomplish it, and He is still accomplishing them in the lives of His children. The promises made to Abraham are still getting fulfilled through our lives because of our covenant relationship with Jesus through His blood sacrificed for us.
God’s faithfulness is much larger, deeper, and profound than us getting our daily needs and desires met. Sometimes, our vision gets small in what God’s faithfulness looks like. We’re just happy with the front parking spot, a nice discount at Macy’s, or a good deal on a recently purchased car. While all those are nice and show a glimpse of God’s faithfulness, there is a much larger picture that He is working on.
God’s vision is far wider, longer, and higher than what we can envision today. He is building an eternal Kingdom while He is building our lives!! When we are disappointed with an outcome, He is still faithful! In those times, we must remind ourselves that He is faithful to His promise, to His purpose, and to His plan for His kingdom as well our lives!!
Remind youself of God’s faithfulness in your own life, and you’ll see that faith will be stirred up. He is worthy to be trusted because He is faithful!!!