The Faithfulness of God

Faithfulness Defined

Dictionary

strict or thorough in the performance of duty: a faithful worker.

true to one's word, promises, vows, etc.

To say that someone is faithful indicates that our faith in them is full. They are dependable and consistent.

Lamentations 3:22-23 The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.

“never cease”

“never fail”

“new every morning” - never degrade

The Hebrew word translated “faithfulness” means “steadfastness, firmness, fidelity.”

The opposite of being faithful is to be ever-changing or wishy-washy.

Psalm 119:89–90 says, “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations.” Here faithfulness is equated with God’s Word. God speaks never-ending truth. If God spoke something a thousand years ago, it still stands. He is faithful to His Word, because His Word is an expression of His character. The promises He made still hold true because He does not change (Malachi 3:6).

God’s Faithfulness to Paul

As Paul neared the conclusion of his letter with its focus on faithfulness, he had no more fitting end that to turn Timothy’s attention to the faith One, God himself. Paul proclaimed the great faithfulness of God, Who alone was faithful to Paul in his greatest hour of need.

Paul gave three examples of God’s faithfulness in 2 Timothy 4:17, 18

God Stood With Him

When Paul had his trial, God stood with him.

2 Corinthians 11:23-33 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if insane) I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches.Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me,and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

Paul was arrested and put in prison three times. It was during this last arrest that he wrote 2 Timothy. In total Paul probably spent between 5 and 6 years in prison.

No human being was present to support him, but God was faithful to His promise to never leave.

Empire-wide persecution of the church had begun and Paul was on trial for his life.

He stood before the dreadful Roman tribunal, perhaps before Nero himself.

The court would have been jammed with spectators, much as in the trials of famous people in our own day, except that none of the spectators in Rome was on Paul’s side.

God had told Paul that he would be in this place. Acts 23:11 But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”

Verse 16 points out how alone Paul was in his defense. Roman law permitted Paul to hire a lawyer, but apparently no one would take his case.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,”

Paul was comforted by the fact of God’s presence even in the anguish of his trials.

If God is omnipresent then what is special about being in His presence? Why was Paul comforted by the presence of God during his trials?

Psalm 139:7-10 Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Thy hand will lead me, And Thy right hand will lay hold of me.

We sometimes make a distinction between the all-pervading presence of God (His omnipresence) and the manifest presence of God. God’s manifest presence is the result of His overt and unmistakable interaction with us. When Israel camped at Sinai, God had been there all along, of course. But when they saw the fire and heard the trumpet and experienced the earthquake, they were in the manifest presence of God. The Bible describes the event as God’s “descending” to Sinai and “meeting” with the children of Israel (Exodus 19:17, 20). They were in the presence of God in a special way. As God used physical, earthly means of communicating with His people, they got the point that God was there and that they were in His presence.

We also need constant reminder of His personal presence in our lives. He is present not as a stranger simply occupying the same space as you, but rather He is present as one with whom we have a personal relationship.

For the Christian the presence of God is so much more than even the scope of God’s omniscience. For we are not only blessed by the reality of God’s constant presence around us but we are empowered by God’s constant presence within us.

It is a combination of these truths that empowered Paul during his trials and suffering.

* Who stood by Christ in His darkest hour? - Mary, his mother and John his disciple

God Strengthened Him

The connection between our trouble and God’s strength is made clear in Psalm 46:1 “GOD is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.”

The next verse reveals what our response should be Psalm 46:2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;

When we speak of God strengthening us we are speaking of God empowering us for a specific task that He has called us to. That empowerment comes through the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit.

One of the great ironies of the Christian life is that the harder we try to accomplish things on our own the more we fail. It is only when we give up control and trust fully in God’s plan that we find the strength that God provides.

This was a concept that Paul was familiar with and attempted to live out in his life. 2 Corinthians 12:10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

What was Paul’s task that God was strengthening him to do?

Preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.

In this case to a bunch of pagan government officials at his own trial!

God Delivered Him

What exactly Paul is referring to when he says he was delivered from the mouth of the “lion” is unclear. Paul often had been delivered out of the lion’s mouth, a common figure of mortal danger (see Ps. 22:21; 35:17). It also was the specific danger into which the Lord allowed Daniel to be placed and from which He miraculously delivered the prophet (Dan. 6:16–23). An immeasurably greater threat—for Paul and for every believer—comes from Satan himself, our “adversary, the devil, [who] prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Yet even the devil has no ultimate power over those who belong to Christ.

In verse 18 Paul clearly has heaven in view.

There will come a day for Paul when he will be delivered from “every evil work”

Paul had the guaranteed hope of being preserved until that day.

Every believer holds that same promise.

He knew that the completion of his own salvation was nearer than when he first believed (cf. Rom. 13:11) and preferred “rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). For Paul, as for every believer, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). And although the apostle would not give up the battle until the Lord took him home, his loneliness, pain, deprivation, and desertion made the prospect of heaven all the more appealing.

His contemplation of heaven moved him to an expression of praise! “to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen.”