A Closer Walk
Is the Lord God Almighty faithful? Specifically, will He be faithful to us who love, worship, and serve Him? Does He remain faithful all the time? Even if we stumble or fall? "Nevertheless He looked upon their distress, When He heard their cry; and He remembered His covenant for their sake, And relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness," Psalm 106:44-45 NASB. This passage from Psalm 106 speaks about the ancient Israelites. But it is also an illustration for us. How do we know this? "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope," Romans 15:4 NASB.
Almost any Bible reading about the ancient Israelites shows us that they were prone to walk away from God and do their own thing rather than do what the Lord had commanded them. The book of Judges is a continuous cycle of the Israelites turning away from God, getting themselves into trouble, then crying out to God for His help. In fact, the key verse in Judges is: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes," Judges 21:25 NASB. But, He always responded and helped them. Why would he do that? Clearly they didn't deserve His help or His rescue. And that is exactly the point. "It is a trustworthy statement: 'For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him; If we endure, we shall also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for he cannot deny Himself,'" 2 Timothy 2:11-13 NASB. We may be faithless, but He remains faithful. For our God to not remain faithful would be to deny Himself according to the Scripture from 2 Timothy.
In the Psalm passage above we are told that the Lord remembered His covenant “...for their sake....” Not for His own sake, but for theirs. And He relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness. He relented not because they deserved it or had earned it, but because of the greatness of His lovingkindness. The greatness of His lovingkindness. It is the same with us. Sometimes He comes to our aid quickly. Other times He delays. Probably because He knows we have more to learn from the situation we are in at this point in time.
In the case of the ancient Israelites they had strayed so far away from the Lord that they were even sacrificing their own children. "They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, And shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan..." Psalm 106:37-38 NASB. Once again the Israelites turned away from God and did their own thing. Once again they got themselves into trouble. But when they were in distress they called out to Him. And He remembered His covenant for their sake. Again, not for His own sake, but for theirs. And He relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness. How great is God's lovingkindness? Great enough to come to the aid of people who are even sacrificing their own children to pagan gods.
You see, God's grace and mercy is not based on our faithfulness to Him. It is based on His love for us. He loves us so much that He sent His Son to pay the price for all the sins we have committed. And for everyone else's sins also. Our God remains faithful to us even if we haven't been faithful to Him. Because His faithfulness does not depend on us. It depends on the greatness of His own lovingkindness.
“Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name...Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice,” Psalm 63:3-4 and 7 KJV.