God's Great Faithfulness

Our pastor has been preaching on the fruit of the Spirit all year.  This month, we begin "faithfulness," and I am so excited because for me, “faithfulness” has always been my favorite piece of the fruit of the Spirit.  To me, it is a bite that is sweeter than all the rest.  Its flavor is deeper and richer and more complex, giving me a taste of God’s character that I can’t get any other way.

As most of you know, I have cancer.  I’ve had some people tell me how amazed they are that I can continue to believe God is faithful when He’s allowed cancer to strike me.  But none of us is immune to difficulties and trials – all of us have things in our lives that are hard; all of us have things we wish we’d never had to face; and all of us can relate at some time in our lives to what Jeremiah says in Lamentations 3:

I am the man who has seen affliction

He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away

He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.

In dark places He has made me dwell,

Like those who have long been dead.

He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;

He has made my chain heavy.

Even when I cry out and call for help,

He shuts out my prayer.

He has made my paths crooked.

He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;

He has made me desolate.

He bent His bow

And set me as a target for the arrow.

He made the arrows of His quiver

To enter into my inward parts.

Jeremiah was called “the wailing prophet” for a reason!  Many consider him to be pretty depressing because all they’ve read or heard from Jeremiah are passages like this.  But I love the honesty with which Jeremiah speaks, because on my bleakest days, I could have written those words.  However, I love even more what Jeremiah says next:

This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope.

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I have hope in Him.”

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

To the person who seeks Him.

Jeremiah knew, long before Paul penned his letter to the Galatians, that part of what defines our God is His everlasting, never-failing faithfulness.  No matter how bad things got for Jeremiah, and things got really bad, he never forgot that his God, our God, had not forgotten him.  How did he know?  Jeremiah learned this beautiful truth: it is often in the midst of the trials and difficulties and hardships that we are most able to clearly see God’s faithfulness, because it is often in the midst of the trials and difficulties and hardships that God is all we have, and He will never let us forget that He is still right “in the midst” with us.

Jeremiah’s testimony is my testimony too.  Today, I am rejoicing because tomorrow will be the final time I have to have the “ugly nasty” chemo drugs enter my system.  Which means that the next three weeks will be the last time I will have to deal with all the ugly nasty side effects of those ugly nasty drugs. And while I am truly rejoicing over that, it doesn’t erase the difficulty of the past four months, and it doesn’t diminish the hardships I still have to face.  But no matter how bad the chemo has been, no matter how hard and bitter the cup I’ve been made to drink, God has been abundantly faithful to show me His mercy and love over and over again in the midst of this process: 

Every morning, the sun comes up, bringing a new day – even though I have cancer. 

Every evening, the sun goes down, bringing a time of rest – even though I have cancer.

The seasons haven’t suddenly changed their order – even though I have cancer.

The stars are still in their God-ordained places – even though I have cancer.

God has used the unchanging nature of…nature….to remind me of His unchanging, faithful Nature.  His character hasn’t changed – and that’s as true for you as it is for me.  No matter what trial you may be facing today, no matter how bad it seems or feels or truly is – know that God is faithful.  His faithful love is what caused Him to send His one and only Son to die – so that we might live – faithfully.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God My Father

There is no shadow of turning with Thee

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be

Chorus:

Great is Thy faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand has provided

Great is Thy faithfulness

Lord unto me

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest

Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside

Hymn "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" written by Thomas O. Chisholm