Focus: Restful Faith (Pt.3)

Text: Jb.13:15

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him."

God is trustworthy even in the worst circumstances of life. The rest of faith is made possible by God. He is the guarantor of it. Life is one ceaseless and restless activity until God comes into the equation. So today let us look at the character of our God.

We have a good reason to worry and fret if God cannot be trusted. But I can boldly and confidently declare that our God is reliable. He is dependable.

Let me use the word FAITH as an acronym to spell out to us the gravity and trustworthiness of God.

He is:

*FAITHFUL GOD

Twice Paul declares that "GOD is faithful" (1Cor.1:9; 10:13). John tells us that "He is faithful and just…" (1Jh.1:9). Peter calls God "a faithful CREATOR" (1Pet.4:19). John says He is the "faithful WITNESS… the faithful and TRUE WITNESS" (Rev.1:5; 3:14). John further describes Jesus Christ as "Faithful and TRUE" (Rev.19:11).

Paul writes, "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it… But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil" (1Thes.5:24; 2Thes.3:3). In Hebrews, we read, "he is faithful that promised," and also that Sarah "judged him faithful who had promised" (Heb.10:23; 11:11). Paul then takes it further, telling us that "if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself" (2Tim.2:13). That means that even when we are unfaithful God remains faithful. He does not join us in our foolishness, and nothing could ever make Him to reinvent Himself or to alter in His character.

We are reliably informed by the author of Hebrews that Jesus Christ is "the faithful high priest," and that He was "faithful to his Father, who appointed him" (Heb.2:17; 3:2). God is marked out by His faithfulness. He is eternally dependable.

*ABLE GOD

God has power to do whatever He says. His promises are sure. The Scripture presents Him as the Almighty. In Hebrew the word 'almighty' is Elshaddai, God who is more than enough, or the all-sufficient God. In Greek it is the word 'pantakratos,' which means the all-powerful God. He is the God of infinite power. He possesses creative, constructive, redemptive, curative, and miraculous abilities. Jesus Christ says, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Mt.28:18). Paul says that God is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think…" (Eph.3:20).

The Scripture says that "he is able to save… He is able to succour them that are tempted" (Heb.2:18; 7:25). In it we are told that Abraham was "accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead…" (Heb.11:19). Jude tells us that God is "able to keep you from falling, and present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jud.1:24). It is no wonder that Samuel Rutherford said, "My faith hath no bed to sleep upon but omnipotency." Faith rests on the bedrock of God's almightiness.

*IMMUTABLE GOD

God is unchangeable. The author of Hebrews says, "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath" (Heb.6:17). He is never given to changes or mood swings. He is never emotionally shaky and unbalanced. Hebrews says, "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie…" (Heb.6:18). The two immutable things are the promise and the oath. God went beyond making promises to taking an oath to keep His word. It means that God has sealed His promises with an oath. In Malachi, he says, "For I am the LORD, I change not…" (Mal.3:6). Hebrews says,

"And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail… Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever" (Heb.1:12; 13:8). Finally, James tells us that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is NO VARIABLENESS, neither SHADOW OF TURNING" (Jam.1:17). Our faith finds a place of rest in God who is forever consistent and changeless.

*TRUE AND TRUTHFUL GOD

God is real, not fake. He is the God of absolute and concrete reality. He is "the God of truth." Isaiah says, "That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the GOD OF TRUTH; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the GOD OF TRUTH…" (Isa.65:16). Nebuchadnezzar recognized the God of Israel as the "the King of heaven, all whose works are truth…" (Dan.4:37). Micah says, "Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob…" (Mic.7:20). The Lord Jesus Christ prays to the Father, "Sanctify them through thy truth: THY WORD IS TRUTH" (Jh.17:17). Jesus Christ says, "I am the truth." John says that Jesus Christ was "full of truth," and also that "truth came by him" (Jh.1:14,17; 14:6). The Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of truth" (Jh.14:17; 15:26; 16:13).

So we can see that the Holy Trinity is identified with truth, and that tells us that no lie exists in God. According to John, "no lie is of the truth" (1Jh.2:21). Again he says, "But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie…" (1Jh.2:27). Isaiah says, "Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth" (Isa.25:1). Hebrews says that it is impossible for God to lie (Heb.6:18). Paul says, "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began" (Tit.1:2). God is trustworthy. He never lies.

*HOLY GOD

God is holy, and central to the nature of God is His holiness. He is utterly holy. He has no evil in His system. He is awesomely pure, immaculate and impeccable.

God's holy nature makes it impossible for Him to lie, cheat, falter or alter. His character is constant and consistent. He is absolutely perfect and flawless. He doesn't say one thing and then turns to do the opposite. He never fails.

The Scripture says, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good" (Num.23:19). Whatever He says, He does.

Truth marks God out. He is upright and truthful, real and down to earth. Holiness is His nature. All He does stems from His holy character.

Let your faith rest on who and what God is! He is Faithful, Able, Immutable, Truthful and Holy. Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter