Doesn’t it seem like the virtue of faithfulness is going the way of the dodo bird? Who or what can we count on anymore? Appliances aren’t as dependable as they used to be.
Professional athletes aren’t loyal to teams. And team owners aren’t loyal to cities! We live in a culture full of fickle shoppers, job hoppers, and spouse swappers. Whatever happened to reliability and loyalty?
In his final words to the nation he’d led for forty tough years, Moses referred to God as “the faithful God” (Deuteronomy 7:9). It’s a fascinating compound name: El (the common name for God) combined with aman (a verb that means to support, prop up, or uphold).
Put them together and the idea is that God is reliable, firm, steady, and trusty. Moses wanted God’s people to understand that they could count on God, lean on Him, and depend on Him. In short, if God says it, we can bank on it.
Using this divine name, Moses assured his fellow Israelites that God would bring them into Canaan and give them success. He urged the people to remember God’s promises. He also accompanied his use of this name by recounting God’s absolute faithfulness to the nation in the past. “Remember His track record!” Moses was essentially saying.
Surely God is faithful only to those who deserve such blessing, right? Wrong! Look at what Moses said: “The LORD . . . set his affection on you . . . because [he] loved you” (Deuteronomy 7:7–8).
And if God’s people are unfaithful? The apostle Paul reassures us that “if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
God’s faithfulness means He’s not changing. He will remain true to His Word and loyal to His people always—even when we can’t see it, and even when we don’t deserve it.
Because God is “the faithful God” (El-HaNe’eman), we can count on Him. He nourishes us, props us up, and supports us. He is always reliable. Always.
How have you seen the faithfulness of God in the past, despite your own lack of faith, or our own weaknesses?
