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."