God is so good! Undeniably, unchangingly good. I can pretty easily get caught up in the fear (more accurately, the lie) that at some point I will make too many mistakes and God’s just going to give up on working in my life – that there’s a limit to His plans for me. But that isn’t who He is. The Savior that suffered and died to free me from my sins is certainly not going to lose interest in me now! I remind myself of all the answered prayers and all the times He’s guided me, whether I realized it in the moment or not. Why should I expect that now His character and His love towards me have suddenly changed?
People are certainly fickle. Circumstances are unpredictable. Our trust takes a hit when our loved ones let us down and when life deals us an impossible hand. But God is not going to fail us, ever. He is the only one in whom we can be completely secure. This post is partly an encouragement for whoever reads it, and partly an accountability moment for me. I’m committing myself now to stop doubting God’s consistency, to quit expecting Him to change on a dime or to leave me in the dust. Instead, I am going to actively and joyously put my faith in the only One who is truly faithful.
Recently I started making a list of all the circumstances in my life in which I have seen God’s hand at work. In some of these I didn’t realize He was moving in the situation until much later, which is why I wanted to write them all down. There will be seasons when it’s hard to trust God, when it seems like there’s no way that my situation can result in anything close to good. But in those moments I can look back at my list and be reminded of all the other times I felt this way and how God proved me wrong in each and every circumstance. He has shown Himself faithful to me in times when I’ve needed guidance, protection, conviction (and subsequent forgiveness), encouragement, friendships, and peace. And I know He has also been faithful to me in ways that I haven’t yet recognized.
When I begin to feel overwhelmed with concerns over how I’m going to make it through a difficult season, I can turn to Scripture and to this list to remind myself of all the tangible ways I’ve experienced God’s love throughout my life. I encourage you to do the same! Instead of being fearful over the unknown, we can be thankful because of what we do know. God’s goodness and faithfulness is inherent to His nature; there’s no circumstance in life that can negate that. From way before the beginning of our lives, to long after we’re gone, He has been and will continue to be a good, faithful God. Our awareness of God’s faithfulness in our past is what fuels our security in His faithfulness for our future.
Related Scripture
Psalm 37:35
“I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken.”
1Thessalonians 5:24
“Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”
Psalm 13:5-6
“But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.”
Romans 8:31-32, 38-39
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?…For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, not 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, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Girl that Jesus Loved 