Faithful Is He

Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

I Thessalonians 5:24

This verse is one in a long list of short, seemingly random thoughts Paul spouts off at the very end of his first letter to Thessalonica.  It's right there with the really easy memory verses like "Pray without ceasing" and "Rejoice evermore."  Each verse is so short, and yet, bursting at the seams with truth.  However, what threw me for a loop was the end of verse 24, "who also will do it."  This puzzled me; what exactly is "it"?

These short passages are nice because you can take them almost literally a word at a time and strike with gold with every swing.  "Faithful is He that calleth you" is pretty straightforward.  God has a specific plan for each of us to accomplish in this life, and He is faithful!  Even when we stray from the path, he never gives up on us.  No matter how rough the path may seem, He will never forsake us.

"Who also..."  God didn't just set your life in motion to sit back and watch it spin.  He had your best interest in mind when he called you and He still has your best interest in mind.  These two words illustrate how personal God is.

"...will do it."   What, did you expect to reach your life's goals on your own strength?  If you've ever tried to do anything in life without God's guiding hand, you already know that your chances of success are slim to none!  God is faithful, and has a calling just for you, but only through His strength can you reach it.

Wow, the second half of this verse really puts it all in perspective.  So often we major on the "I can do all things!" but forget that it's only "through Christ which strengtheneth me."  If God brought you to where you are today (which He obviously did!), just trust Him to take care of things.  The "it" in this verse is everything!  If your calling, as of now, is surviving high school and living at home, God will take care of which college you should go to and finding the time to do projects.  If you're in the will of God at college or beyond, trust Him to handle the next bill payment and how much it'll cost to fix the weird sound the car is making.

It only makes sense to trust in Him because He's the only one who can really handle it anyway.  We can control very little of what takes place in our lives, but if God brings us to it, He will bring us through it.  All we have to do is give it over to Him in prayer, leave it there in His hands, and expect that He "also will do it."

Looking for Fat People

Scripture: Mt. 6:33, Rm. 12:1-2, Prov. 9:9, Prov. 3:6, Ps. 90:12

1. Fat in Faithfulness

* Bible Reading

* Prayer

* Church Attendance

2. Fat in Availability

* For Service

* For Sacrifice

* For Submissiveness

3. Fat in Teachability

* To Learn God’s Ways

* To Learn to Love Others

* To Learn to Use Time Wisely

Psalms 119:89-96

“Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.” (v.90)

The Lord is faithful to all peoples, everywhere, who call upon Him in Truth. He is there for us, unto the third and forth generations, and further, even unto all generations. Paul put it this way in Rom. 8, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (v. 31), and, who indeed? His faithfulness is toward us, and He will never let us down. I cannot even imagine my God letting anyone down that has truly and fully trusted in Him, He cannot do it! Most people would be reluctant to disappoint someone who was desperately depending on them, let alone a loving and merciful God. Why then do we fail to trust Him in all things, and at all times? He has established the earth after all, and is more than capable of handling any and all problems that it might bring forth. I only wish we were as faithful to Him as He is to us.

This is one of only five verses that does not contain a direct reference to the Word of God in this entire Psalm. There are nine different words used for God’s Word, and nearly every verse in this huge psalm (176verses) contains at least one, and some two. This psalm is an excellent tribute to the Word of God, and what it means to mankind; it should be read often and carefully, as well as prayerfully. He has established, or settled His Word, and the earth, as we see here. He has established his Word in the earth, through His Son, Jesus, Who is the Word incarnate; the very God of gods, and Lord of lords. It is, then, a tribute to Jesus. Read it carefully, and with great awe, and see the Lord of the Psalms, in Christ. Laws, ordinances, precepts, testimonies, commandments, etc., all are about Jesus. Read on, and note these synonyms and be reminded that Christ is everywhere in the Bible, walking through it’s pages, and hiding Himself in every page. Praise the Lord for this wonderful fact.

Psalms 119: 81-88

“All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.” (v. 86)

Yes, all His commandments are faithful, and we can count on them through all trials, at all times. God never changes, and His Word never changes, so why do we doubt? If we can’t rely on the Word of God, we are of “all men most miserable.” David seems to be crying out to the Lord and asking for His help against those who “persecute” him wrongfully. The proud have digged pits for him, they have sought to destroy him, but he retained his integrity, and trusted in the Lord. This is what the Word of God does for us, it protects us, and gives us favor with God.

We are as a bottle in the smoke (v.83), hidden and blending in with our environment, and very hard to find. The psalmist realizes his place before the Lord, and it humbles him greatly. Humility gets God’s attention, and is a rare thing for a noble warrior to acquire. David, who slew Goliath, and many Philistines, had a humble heart. How hard it is for us, when the battle is over and the victory is won, to remain humble; in fact, humility is a rare thing among any man! A humble man will truly rely on the Lord, because he knows his own frailty.

David knew his frailty. He knew that his victory over Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, was actually a God-given victory, and not his own doing. Paul was teaching us this in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, and topped it off with the last verse in the chapter, “That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” That is our goal, and God’s goal for us, that we might glorify Him, and ourselves “glory in the Lord.” God indeed chooses the weak things to confound the wise, the problem is that we get all puffed up, and think ourselves strong! We then become weak, in a useless way.