God Is Faithful

Nehemiah 9 is a prayer that recounts the history of the Jews and of how God had provided for them and protected them. God had been at work on behalf of the people of Israel since the beginning of time. Even when the people rebelled against Him, He still worked on their behalf; guiding them, protecting them and continually calling them back to Him. It was God’s desire to walk with His people as He had done with Adam in the Garden of Eden. There were many voices of discontent amongst the people of Israel. They resented the exiles and the slavery in which they were constantly in bondage to (It made no difference to them that their rebellious spirits were the cause of the exiles and the slavery.) This prayer by the priests served to remind the people to put their current circumstances in proper perspective by measuring them against God’s eternal purposes. The people of Israel were essentially starting over. Their city had been destroyed down to the foundations, yet they could still see a resounding and unchanging hope for the future. God had never gone back on His promises so they knew that they could trust in the unfulfilled promises that were yet to come. One of those promises was the coming of an Anointed One (Messiah). God fulfilled that promise in Jesus Christ. Steven again reminded the people of Gods promises and provisions from the time of the patriarchs to the coming of Jesus “the righteous one” (ref. Acts 7). Just as the people of Israel needed reminders of God’s faithfulness, we also need to be reminded that we can trust God with our lives through Jesus Christ. “8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:8-9) Again in 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 “ 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” Let us stand firm in our faith, ignoring the lies of the enemy. “23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” In Christ, John