Faithfulness means unwavering loyalty, steadfast reliability, and a firm commitment to keeping promises and doing what is right, regardless of the circumstances.
Faithfulness is a core part of who God is. It is the unchanging and reliable attribute of God that makes Him trustworthy. You can trust Him completely.
God has the quality of being loyal, steadfast, and trustworthy in His words, promises, and standards.
He is ever committed, even when circumstances are difficult. If He gives you His word, you can rest assured that, all things being equal, you will not be disappointed.
We have earlier discussed the Word of God in this blog. Do well to check it out. There is the Logos, the Rhema, and the Living Word. The Bible contains myriads of promises from God, with conditions attached. His words and promises will go unfulfilled in your life if you neglect the conditions attached to them.
So many people have been disappointed and have therefore concluded that the words and promises of God are of no effect. This is not so.
First, you need to settle some things in your mind:
1. God is good. He is not man. He is not a taskmaster holding a whip over you and waiting for you to make a mistake so that He can pounce on you. Do not believe people who only preach about the severity of God and refuse to talk about His loving attributes. He loves you so much and does not want you to be destroyed, so He sent His only Son to take your place, even though He has no guarantee that you will voluntarily give your life to Him.
2. There is nothing He can withhold from you, as long as it is within His will for you and will not destroy you. He delights in giving these things to you because He loves you. He is always ready to gather you in His arms, comfort you, and show you the way forward. He wants to lead you gently, as a shepherd leads his flock that is with young.
3. He is ready to deploy everything within His power to protect you from every form of attack.
However, in spite of all the above, you need to know that, because of His attribute of faithfulness, He cannot go against His principles, policies, and processes. There are godly laws governing the universe He has created, and no one is exempted from these laws.
A principle is a fundamental truth, rule, or belief that guides how something works, how a system is designed, or how a person behaves.
When God created the heavens and the earth, He put principles in place to govern their operation. God established distinct boundaries, such as separating light from darkness and the waters from dry land, demonstrating that the universe is governed by divine order rather than random chance.
If you or any other person goes against these principles, you cannot expect His faithfulness to work in your favour. If it does, that would mean He is working against His own Word.
A process is a series of actions, steps, or changes that are carried out to achieve a specific result or outcome.
Our God is so good that He has made provisions in case there is a need for a change. For example, God says in Ezekiel 18:20–21:
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”
Beloved, there is always a way out. There is no excuse for all mankind.
There are also laws governing the universe.
A law is a system of rules created and enforced by governmental (in this case, by God, who created the universe) or societal institutions to regulate human behaviour, maintain order, resolve disputes, and deliver justice.
For example, there is the law of seed, time, and harvest. Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 says:
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
So, if you refuse to plant, and not just plant but plant in the right season, there will be no harvest. There is no two ways about it. If you like, go to the farm and engage in prayer and fasting; you will still reap nothing.
If you plant but will not allow the appointed time for it to bring forth, no matter how short that time may be, you will still harvest nothing. Furthermore, the quality of the seed sown will also affect your harvest. What you want to harvest will determine the sort of seed you should sow. You cannot plant yam and expect to harvest potatoes, even though both grow underground.
No matter how lofty God’s promises and words are to you, His principles, processes, procedures, and laws must be adhered to for you to enjoy His faithfulness.
There is no reduction in His power. His hand is not short that it cannot save. The whole of heaven and earth is His jurisdiction, and all power belongs to Him (Psalm 62:11).
When He sent Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sins, He did not just appear as God, even though He is part of the Trinity. He came in the form of man and experienced all the trials and temptations experienced by the human race He was sent to save.
The Bible says in Philippians 2:8:
“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
Even though He is the Lord and the world was made by Him, He still had to submit Himself to the rules and regulations governing the world He created.
You see why you have to be conversant with God’s Word. Ignorance is no excuse, even with God. You are only short-changing yourself for as long as you remain ignorant.
If He has said it, He will do it in His own time and not on your own terms.
It is well.