“When you have nothing left but God, then you become aware that God is enough.” – Rayden

We were forming up in front of our old church home, preparing to march several blocks to our new church.  Our pastor was leading the way, followed by the church officers who were trailed by the combined choirs and the remaining congregation. 

As we marched and navigated our way through the neighborhoods, towards our new church, the choirs were singing “We Have Come This Far By Faith…”  The remaining words of the chorus include these words –

… Leaning on the Lord.

Trusting in His holy Word,

He’s never failed us – yet.

This early childhood memory, reminds me of the words Moses recorded in Numbers 23:19 –

“God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” – (NKJV)

Our God is a promise keeper!   He is absolutely reliable and can be trusted not only for our salvation (Psalm 13:5) but for our day-to-day needs.  It is because of God’s “everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3) for us, that we can join with Paul in answering the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:35)  His response –

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39 (NASB)

Because of God’s great love for us, we are made alive together with Christ.  So that even when we were dead in our transgressions (Ephesians 2:4-5) God demonstrated his boundless love towards us through the blood of His only Son. 

Looking back at the words of that chorus, you discover three reasons for believers to stay the course and continue to rest in God’s unfailing love. 

First, we have a history – The chorus opens with “We have come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord.”  From “In the beginning God…” found in Genesis 1, to present day, God continues to stand by His promises and fulfill His Word.

W. H. Griffith Thomas wrote that true “Faith rests on God, receives from God, responds to God, relies on God, realizes God, rejoices in God, and reproduces His life and character.” As ambassadors for Christ, we are called to live and believe in the person we say we represent – Christ Jesus!

Second, we have not built our hope and trust in a man and earthly words, instead we are “Trusting in the God of Heaven and His holy Word.”  Our trust is in a Holy God who has proven over and over that His character does allow Him to deny Himself.  J. Oswald Sanders once said, “There is no conceivable situation in which it is not safe to trust God.”    

Because doesn’t Isaiah write concerning God’s Word –

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. – Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV)

Finally, because “He’s never failed us- yet” – why would He start now?  Paul even reminds Timothy that –

If we are faithless, he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself. – 2 Timothy 2:13 (NASB)

Christ’s faithfulness to believers does not hinge on our faithfulness to Him.  Instead, He remains faithful to His Word, out of His everlasting love for each of us. 

Still not convinced of God’s unfailing love?   Then just reflect and meditate upon possibly the most well-known and quoted verse in our Bible –

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. –  John 3:16 (NASB)

When we could not reach up to God, His great love reached down to us through His one and only Son so that we could be in relationship with Him!   That’s a love we will not truly understand until He welcomes us home. 

Be encouraged – “… God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him…” (1 John 4:16) – with an unfailing love!