Great Is His Faithfulness - Your Daily Forward Devotional

Great Is His Faithfulness

April 5

Read 2 Thessalonians 3:3-4 (ESV)

But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command.

Reflect

How has God proven His faithfulness in your life?

There is a reason the beloved hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” praises God’s great faithfulness and not our own. Another one of my favorite hymns, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” put it this way: “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love….” We all know that despite our best intentions, we falter and fail sometimes. We are prone to wander. We are never as faithful to Him as He is to us. God is not prone to wander. He never falters and He never fails. Instead, He is perfectly faithful and unchanging. That is why He is a firm foundation that we can rely on.

In today’s verses, Paul reminded the Thessalonians of the truth that God is faithful. The Thessalonian church was experiencing persecution. Satan was at work, sowing false teachings that were causing fear, anxiety, and confusion among the saints there. One of these false teachings claimed that the Lord had already returned! Paul wrote to address these issues and reassure the church. He did this by directing their attention to God’s faithfulness, not their own.

We know that God is faithful in so many ways, but Paul specifically mentioned that God would establish them and protect them from Satan. But notice that Paul didn’t place his confidence in the Thessalonian believers to right the ship. Instead, he placed his confidence in the Lord and reminded them to do the same. I love verse 4 because he wrote that they (Paul, Silas, and Timothy) had “confidence in the Lord about you.” Basically, they had confidence that the church in Thessalonica would continue to do the things that they had commanded them to do, not because the church was faithful but because they knew that God was faithful and would finish what He started.

In Paul’s letter to the Philippian church, he wrote: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). In other words, Paul is confident that God will finish what He starts. Once he saves us, He keeps us until the day He returns. If we have placed saving faith in Him, there is nothing we can do to lose that salvation. We may stumble, fall, fail, or wander, but we cannot be eternally lost if we truly belong to Him.

Paul also stressed this truth in 2 Timothy 1:11-13 which some scholars think may have been a well-known hymn of the day or even an early creed: “The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful.” The only danger we are in is if we deny and reject Christ. But in Christ, we can have complete assurance that He will remain faithful even if our own faith falters.

Friends, we are always totally dependent on God. We need Him at all times and in every way. Thankfully, He is faithful. He will never desert us. He will never abandon us. Even when we fail, He is faithfully working in our lives to bring us back to Himself and continue the good work that He began in us. If you are struggling with shame or guilt because of your faults and failures, take heart and be encouraged. He will establish you and protect you! Great is His faithfulness!

Pray

Lord, I know that I do not deserve Your faithfulness. What a gracious gift. Thank You for the assurance I can have in knowing that no matter what, You will never abandon me. Great is Your faithfulness, Lord unto me. Amen.

~ Pastor Nat Crawford

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