by Tanner Scott
God has many attributes, and all of these perfections are important. I say perfections because God is the perfect embodiment of His attributes, including His faithfulness. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (NKJV). Faith is necessary for Christians if they want to truly know God. While we must have faith, God has unchanging faithfulness. He is loyal to His people.
Whenever I hear someone speaking of God’s faithfulness, I always think of one of God’s first and most profound displays of commitment: His loyalty to His chosen people, the Israelites in providing for and blessing them throughout the Bible. The Israelites, however, didn’t always have faith in God. Many times in the Scriptures they turned their backs on Him.
One of the prime examples of this is in Exodus 32. While Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the commandments of God, the Israelites became impatient and made a golden calf to worship. They did this even after receiving God’s blessings and seeing many of His wonders performed through Moses. Though the Israelites forsook God, He stayed faithful to them.
In Genesis 17, God made a covenant with Abram. He named him Abraham and told him he would be the father of many nations. God kept His covenant and made Abraham’s descendants plentiful, and called them His chosen people. The Israelites, as mentioned, did not always act like God’s chosen people. They sinned against Him countless times. Even so, God was faithful and kept His promise.
God made a new promise through Jesus. In it, He adopted the Gentiles, including them in His chosen people. God told the Gentiles He would give them eternal life if they believed in Jesus. This new covenant still stands today. If we believe in Jesus, we will be saved. Although we will wrong God many times, because of His immutable nature, He will have the same reaction He had with the Israelites: He will remain faithful. Consequently, we can remain in good faith, for we know that He will be faithful to us.
Tanner Scott, a native of Owosso, MI, and attends the CoG7 in Owosso. He is fifteen years old, and his parents are Amy and Jeremy Scott. Tanner enjoys fishing, reading, and playing sports. He plans to attend Grand Valley University and earn a degree in psychotherapy.
