God is Faithful (Part Two)

God is faithful. The Psalmist proclaimed, “For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:5). What does it mean to say God is faithful? Is our saying He is faithful based on our perception of how we define faithfulness? In talking with a friend, he was excited that God had granted his petition. As a result, he said, “God is faithful! He answered my prayer and granted my request.” I asked, “are you equating God’s faithfulness to the fact that He granted your petition?” He said, “of course!” My question to him was, “what if God had not granted your request, would He then have been unfaithful?” He said, “I never thought about that.” Isn’t God faithful even if He doesn’t give me what I prayed for? Yes! Is God’s faithfulness determined by whether or not He grants our requests? No! God's faithfulness is not equated with answered prayers and granting requests because God's faithfulness means He acts according to His ways, not ours. God is faithful when He does or doesn’t grant our request. Be encouraged!

Dr. Robert L. Taylor, Th.D., Bible teacher & expositor