Jan 27 2009
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Most of us know this as one of our most time treasured hymns, and it is. Beyond that, though, it is a part of God’s character that we can not dismiss off-handedly, and one that deserves to be forever closely held within our hearts. I have been in circumstances recently that have entirely overwhelmed me to the point of tears by the realization that the tasks set before me were utterly beyond my capabilities. I had been in prayer for long months looking for a certain path to chart my life’s course, asking that the proper opportunity be set before me and that all other doors be closed so that I might not err in the making of the choice. I am reminded of an old bromide which warns, “Be careful what you ask for; for you may surely get it.”
The specific task is unimportant, and the surroundings immaterial but the point is that God is ever faithful. He can not be anything less. If any faithfulness exists, anywhere in the realm of creation, (and I know that it does), then the origin of that faithfulness can only come from the fount of all good things, God the Father. Since all good things come from our Father in Heaven, it should be easy to see that whatever God allows to come to us in the way of provision must necessarily be drawn from His own unlimited store. Faithfulness is no exception. The Psalmist tells us, “Your love, Oh Lord, reaches to the Heavens, your faithfulness to the skies,” Psalm 36:5, NIV. How can we, mere mortal men, hope to measure the vastness of the skies? How can we ever hope to understand the vastness of the store of God’s faithfulness?
Even though we are heirs through adoption of the riches of the kingdom of God, and even though He has promised that He will never leave, nor forsake us; at times we can only see the obstacles through our own eyes and somehow neglect to see how God may be growing us in our faith by the solutions he is about to deliver to us. This is exactly where I had found myself. But I cried out in prayers of utter anguish, from the breaking strains of an empty heart, “Please God, carry me through this trial which you have set before me.” I had no hope but in the faithfulness of the Lord.
It may seem to some that this is almost like testing the promises of God, or that I was somehow impugning the Word, but it was actually the opposite. Some years ago I saw a movie with Michael Keaton titled, “Gung-Ho.” In the film, Keaton’s character is trying to accomplish an impossible goal and calls upon the Japanese factory owner to come and count the units completed for himself. The plan was that by working while the count continued, they might have enough extra time to reach the goal before the counting was finished. The factory owner confronts Keaton saying, “I understand you are questioning my honor.” Keaton replies, “I was not questioning it, I was depending on it.” This was what I did with God’s promises.
I believe, in that casual way we tend to sometimes accept doctrine, that God will never bring us to a task that He will not enable us to complete. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:7-8 NIV. I was to be tested on a particular ability that I had consistently failed in practice, and the consequence that hung in the balance was that I would not be allowed to complete my training. In my desperate plea I called upon the honor of God’s Word to stand in the place where I could not, “God, how can you have chosen this path for me only to allow me to fail?” It didn’t make sense to me. But God heard from Heaven and did not allow me to fail, and though He used my arms and legs and hands to do the required task; it was not me moving them.
I was not questioning the promises in God’s Word as much as I was depending upon them. And He sent an angel. As I sat at the table at lunch break I noticed that the young man next to me sat down with his Styrofoam container of carry-out bowed his head and offered a prayer before his meal. I commented that I was having a terrible time completing the task at hand and he said, “Try doing this, it worked for me.” I went out, and though there was little time to try the suggestion, I prayed once more, “Lord, if this is Your will, and I believe that it is, then take me and use me for your glory because if the task is going to be completed, it will only be possible by Your hand.” I passed the test and moved on to the next phase. I only saw my angel one more day and then he was off to another place to continue his own training, but I yet hope to meet him one day on life’s highway to thank him again for being the messenger of God to one who was entirely empty and broken.
Hebrews 13 begins, “Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” To read these two verses now is so very different to me than in all the times before; Where once it was only a nod and a, “Yeah, that could happen,” it has become a blinding reality that I can only compare to Saul’s conversion on the Damascus road. This proves to me how a simple exchange of goodwill, a very little thing in mortal terms, has the potential to be the revelation of the glory of God in the movement of His hand in our lives. Our little becomes much when God is in it.
“Great is Thy faithfulness, Oh God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning in Thee,
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not,
As thou hast been, Thou shalt forever be.”
God works so many miracles in our lives that we never even bother to recognize that it astounds me that He continues to give of His endless grace to ungrateful creatures like us. Did you awake this day? Give praise to the Lord that He chose to display through you one more day, His glory! Give that comment of compassion, that scrap of hope, that crumb of understanding to the one you encounter because, who knows, it may be you that God has selected this day, to be the messenger of His compassion through a random act of kindness - don’t keep it to yourself.
It seems, not at all odd, that in Heaven we will all be of such a character that we will routinely act in ways that better our neighbor and glorify Christ Jesus. But to start acting in those ways here, is to be doing the kingdom’s work today. This is work that needs to be done here. In Heaven we won’t need to go out of our way to act kindly, with love and compassion; we will have been changed, we’ll already be doing it! Here, right now today, the love of Christ in us needs to be displayed in a world of chaos and darkness. Tell the geeky pimply, teenager how sharp they look, you know that they feel self conscious. Let the woman at the grocery checkout know that you noticed her earrings or smile or that you like the shoes she is wearing, it might be the Word of God shining into a dreary, dark day and it could change her whole world.
There are many things we can point to and say, “Look, here is the glory of Christ, out Lord, Saviour, King, Creator and friend.” The real question is, can Christ point to you and say, “Look and see the glory displayed?” God, Christ Jesus, is faithful; He can be no other way, but we must choose whether or not we will act in faithfulness and be the imitators of Christ that Paul exhorts us to be. When you pray, do it in His will, in the name of the Son and believe in the faithfulness of the Lord to act in our lives. He will! When we allow His glory to be lived through us, THEN… we are living…
All for the Glory of Christ
Postscript - This is thanks to you Shaun, Class # 654. God bless you and keep the shiny side up… Fundamental Charlie