Always Faithful

Verse of the day: Genesis 24:7 The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

Numbers 23:19 tells us that, "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Ezekiel 12:25 reads, ‘“For I am the Lord. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it,” says the Lord God.’” Abraham knew something about God that we, as born again believers, should be even more confident of today; God is a God of His Word. As Abraham sends out his servant to find a wife for Isaac, he expresses his faith, and certainty, in the fact that God can bring Abraham’s plan to fruition. Why such confidence? We see from Abraham’s life that there were those moments when he wavered in his faith, and took matters into his own hands, often resulting in complications that were unnecessary, but yielded learning experiences for him. He is now a very old man, and because he has walked with God intimately, by faith, he has learned a key truth in his relationship with the Lord; that being that the Lord is faithful, and keeps His promises. The plan that Abraham devised, and the task that he has charged his servant with, was a plan that was in line with God’s will for the people of Israel; not to intermingle with idolatrous cultures, such as the Canaanites. Because of what God had already done, this gave Abraham the confidence that God would send His angel ahead of his servant in order for this task to be completed successfully. Are we walking with God so intimately, and so completely by faith, that we are confident of God’s working in our life to fulfill His will and plan for us? Hebrews 10:38 tells us that God’s righteous ones will live by faith. Are we spending enough time in prayer and the study of God’s Word to know what God’s promises to us are? Do we try to put our own plans in place, with selfish motives, and then expect God to bless those plans, or do we first go to God’s Word, pray, and seek God’s plan, based on God’s truth? We cannot expect God to bless plans that are deceitful in nature, and then claim Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That’s not how this works, and this is not the context of the verse. The bottom line is that, like Abraham, when we set out to serve the Lord, or accomplish something in our lives, we must first be confident of God’s faithfulness in our lives, and we must be sure that what we set out to do does not oppose or contradict God’s Word. The same LORD God of heaven who called Abraham from his father’s house, and his family’s land, and has kept His promise to Abraham, is the same LORD God who has made us countless promises that He will bring to fruition. Verse 8 teaches us an important lesson about our prayers and expectations. Abraham, although confident of God’s ability to bring Isaac’s wife back with his servant, also left room for God’s will to be accomplished when he said, “And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.” His statement was not in any way lacking faith, but Abraham knew that although his plan was in line with what would please God, he also knew that God could have something else, or someone else, in mind for Isaac. So often, I hear people proclaim with certainty that God will heal them or a loved one, or proclaim that God will rescue them from a particular situation, only to be greatly disappointed when God allows a different outcome, because He had a greater plan in mind. With every prayer, with every venture, with every step we take in serving the Lord, we must ALWAYS leave room for God to change our direction, and give us an outcome that He desires. He always knows what to allow, or not allow, in order to work all things together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). God was faithful to Abraham, is faithful to us, and will continue to be faithful long after we have gone home to be with Him.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing their sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).