A constant theme in the Psalms, and in the Bible in general, is God’s faithfulness. That he doesn’t leave us ultimately alone and hopeless and will be there for us, even when we are not faithful to him.
One such set of lines comes from Psalm 89: “My faithful love will be with him…” and then later, “but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.”
I admit though, it feels some days that God is nowhere to be found and is, instead, faithless. I look around my nation or my world and see chaos, lies, division, pain, death and wonder, “where is God?” Or I look into my own dark and lonely soul, seemingly void of love or kindness in certain moments and think, “God has left me.”
Yet it is important to remember that nearly every time God’s faithfulness is mentioned in scripture, and nearly every time I hear it uttered by old saints still here on earth, it is referring to the “long arc” of time, to borrow MLK’s turn of phrase. Yes, time is bent to God’s faithfulness, culminating, we believe, in his ultimate act of faithfulness as he gathers us to himself in perpetual community and joy.
Yet how can we pray for, and live into, his “kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven” in these ways? How can we see his faithfulness ushered into our daily lives and our hurting world? It is when we choose to be faithful to the people and call he has placed directly in front of us. In this, we are imitating God. We are living out our “short” faithfulness in light of his “long” faithfulness. And in so doing, we indeed bring the kingdom to earth.
Let it be so today, Lord.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Joel
Joel Searby
