A few evenings ago, my doorbell rang and it wasn’t a neighborhood child selling band candy. It was a young man selling a service that he was convinced I needed. It is a service that I purchase monthly from another company. But he promised that his company would be more reliable. At less than half the price. “Just sign the contract here,” he said as he indicated the spot with an X. “You won’t be sorry.”
“Let me have the contract and a day or two to think about it and maybe some more information about your company,” I countered.
“I can’t do that,” he bluntly said as he turned around taking his contract and his assurances with him.
Call me a skeptic, but I tend to be just a little suspicious about big promises and sketchy details from self-promoting salesmen.
Unfortunately, too many like me have that same attitude when they open the Scriptures and consider the promises of God. “That’s too good to be true.” “Maybe half that promise is what God will really provide…” “I’m not sure about that…I need to think about it a while. God do you have any supporting documents for that promise?” we question.
Here, then, are three words that all of us skeptics need to hear from Scripture: God is faithful.
God. Is. Faithful.
And just to be clear, God is not faithful in the same way that we might say that a man with particular integrity is faithful. No, God is absolutely faithful. God is faithful to the point that He cannot fail. God is incapable of being anything but faithful. For God to be God, He must be faithful. He must be true to His Word, He must be true to every utterance He makes, and He must be true to Himself.
So when David appeals to the eternality and authority of Scripture, He appeals to its faithfulness. And he bases the faithfulness of Scripture on the faithfulness of the One who spoke the Word and revealed the Word to us — God.
Forever, O LORD,
Your word is settled in heaven.
Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations;
You established the earth, and it stands. (Psalm 119:89-90)
David reasons that God’s Word is from Heaven and stands secure in Heaven. So it is faithful. And it is faithful because it comes from a faithful God. And then David demonstrates the faithfulness of the God who gave the Word — He is the God who established the earth. He created the earth, put it on its axis and sent it spinning around the sun in its solar system and that solar system in its galaxy and universe. And He populated the earth with plants and animals and people and created a sustainable ecosystem that is unique in the universe and it all continues to work according to the spoken word of God’s power. David’s conclusion? The Word of God can no more fail than the earth can stop spinning on its axis every 24 hours.
This is the promise of a Word that is trustworthy. It is based on and comes from a God who is trustworthy.
And of course this is not the only place in Scripture that the faithfulness of God is exposed and explained. To what else is God faithful? Consider just a few examples (and you might take some time to look up these passages and look for others):
- God is faithful to His covenant (Dt. 7:9)
- God is faithful to Israel, His chosen people (Is. 49:7)
- God is faithful in the election of all who will trust in Christ (1 Cor. 1:9)
- God is faithful in bringing about the salvation of His elect (1 Thess. 5:24)
- God is faithful to caring for His people in their difficulty (1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Thess. 3:3)
- God, in Christ, is faithful to His position as the great High Priest (Heb. 2:17)
- God, in Christ, is faithful to the Father (Heb. 3:2)
- God is faithful to keep all His promises (2 Cor. 1:18ff; Heb. 10:23; Rev. 21:5; 22:6)
- God is faithful to do what is right (1 Pt. 4:19)
- God is faithful to forgive when sin is confessed (1 Jn. 1:9)
- God is faithful to Himself and His nature (2 Tim. 2:13; Rev. 19:11)
God is faithful. We can trust Him. We can trust Him for everything. And because we can trust Him, we can trust His Word. It is dependable because He is dependable.
It’s okay to be skeptical about men; there are deceivers. It’s always a sin to be skeptical about God. He not only will not deceive, but He cannot deceive. If He has said it, it is true and trustworthy in every way.
Read, study, meditate on, and trust the Word of God. Because the Word of God is from the faithful God. You won’t be sorry.
Words of Grace 