"Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God…" [Deut 7:9a]
The LORD is The Faithful God. If one were to ask what type of God we serve, we could most certainly reply, ‘a faithful God.’ Yes, but He is so much more than that; not just a faithful God but The Faithful God. There is not another God like Him; there is not one that can compare. David writes, “there is none holy as The LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any Rock like our God.” [1 Sam 2:2] And again he says, “among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.” [Psa 86:8] Together as a unified whole, The LORD, our Father and God; His Son who is the Christ; and The Holy Spirit, are The Faithful God – it is His character, and His character alone to possess. For again we read that Jesus, who is the exact image of all that God is, is “the Author and Originator of faith.” [Heb 12:2]
Similarly, if one were to ask what God we serve, we could declare: The Faithful God! It is a name that marks out which God we serve. We do not serve Baal, nor Alah, nor the false Mormon Christ; no, but we serve The Faithful God. Faithful is what He is and who He is.
In one sense, faithfulness is who our God is. He is faithful to all that He has promised, all that He has said, and all that He has revealed Himself to be. We know the main attribute of our God is love, because John tells us, “God is love.” [1 Jn 4:8] We see, then, that God is faithful to be love. He shall always be love, and He will never falter from that. This logic could be applied to any attribute of God or to any promise He has blessed us with. For our God is The Faithful God.
Another blessed revelation of this truth is that He is the Faithful One. Yes, it is God and not ourselves. Though we must exercise faith, yet it is God who is the faithful one, even to the end of the ages. Paul tells us the faith we have is a gift from Christ. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” [Eph 2:8] And so, with great joy, we see that our salvation and our standing with God is not based on our faithfulness but His. Truly, it is Jesus’ faithfulness that we put our hope and trust in, not our own. For He is The Faithful God.
Moreover, see how little and how weak of a faith God is willing to supplement and to answer. What I mean to say, is that The Lord is not surveying our hearts for the grandest of faiths, not for some high and excellent thing before He chooses to help or to work, but He is looking for even the slightest of faith. Our God will take any excuse to grant us a mighty victory or to uphold us in our temptations, for He delights in salvation and He delights in those men which belong to Him. Remember for a moment the disciples, who having been stranded in the Sea of Galilee for some time, upon seeing Christ, “supposed [He] had been a spirit, and cried out;” and then remember too Christ, who upon hearing their feeble yelp, “immediately…talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.” [Mk 6:49-50] Notice in particular the immediate response of Jesus to a cry which was far from perfect. The disciples did not even recognize Jesus; they thought He was a ghost and they cried out for fear. But Jesus, in all His glorious faithfulness, did not take great lengths to analyze their faith, but immediately spoke with them. And then there is Peter, who got out of the boat and walked upon water; who, when He began to sink because “he saw the wind boisterous…cried, saying Lord, save me,” and Jesus “immediately…stretched forth His hand, and caught Him.” [Mt 14:29-31] For us, this is a beautiful truth, because we see that Jesus immediately helped upon the faintest cry. Though Peter and the disciples were not utterly faithful and in fact doubted, yet Jesus saved them. So too it shall be with us; and likewise we may take comfort from the other stories in the holy scriptures because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” [Heb 13:8]
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