Day 7 of Tour Devos - God is Faithful
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This is a series of Devotions I wrote for our church’s high school choir tour. I hope they bless you!
Before you start reading this devotion, pray to God, thanking Him for this day and the gift of life. Tell him about what you are experiencing. Thank Him for the gifts that He has given you. Then pray that God will help you be more aware of His presence in your life so you can be a better apprentice of Christ.
God is Faithful
Take a moment for your soul to catch up to your body.
Breathe in for 4 seconds
Hold for 7 seconds
Breathe out for 8 seconds
In 2015, my life fell apart. Things were great on the outside, but inside, I just didn’t feel right. So I met with a dude named Clare. He is one of the most calming presences I’ve ever met. When I talked to Clare, it felt like I was the only person in the world. He just locked in with care and listened. He helped me navigate a lot of unhelpful thought patterns. He is a rock in a sea of chaos.
If you know me, I struggle with waiting until the last minute and being on time. I’m sorry for the frustrations I cause you. I would often be 2 minutes late to my meetings with Clare. Every time he welcomed me with a loving smile and a hug. Then we would sit down, and he would say, “Take a moment and let your soul catch up to your body.”
In a world of hurry and for my anxious self, those words were like Aloe Vera[1] for my soul. It was soothing. It gave me peace. That space to exist without judgment allowed me to open up to Clare and make sense of the chaos of my brain.
Clare is a symbol of faithfulness. He showed up and listened. No matter how messy my life was, he was there. When I was anxious, he was calm. When I was down, he was with me to pick me up. I’m forever grateful for Clare.
God, you saw this long before I ever knew
And your peace is waiting here to see me through
My deliverance is only found in You
So I will surrender
You are faithful still
You have carried me through deeper waters
Walked beside me through the fire
Faithful still
You have have closed the mouth of bigger lions
Conquered even greater giants
Gone before me and You always will
You are faithful still
-by KingsPorch
Beautiful words.
Read Lamentations 3:22-24
The word faithfulness is a Hebrew word that means firmness and steadiness. It’s used in Exodus 17:12 where Aaron and Hur hold up Moses’ arms and keep them steady (read the story, it’s cool!) It’s the image of being unmoved. This word is used throughout the Bible to talk about God’s total dependability.
Totally dependable
Who is someone who is totally dependable?
The answer is no one completely. Because people bail all the time. Some people are really dependable, but totally? No one.
Below is a graph to show you the faithfulness of Moses, Israel, Israel’s Kings, Peter, the Church in Corinth, and Me and You.
We are good for a while, and then we bail on God. We are good again, usually because something happens that makes us realize we need God. Then we get comfortable and bail on God again. This is the human condition. Sin is the worst.
Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah. He has the worst nickname ever: the weeping prophet. You want to be known as the dude who cries all the time? Not me. But why? Jeremiah is the prophet that God picked to call out Judah’s sin and say that God was going to wipe out Judah (the southern kingdom), Jerusalem, and the Temple. Horribly sad!
In 586 BC, Babylon came and destroyed everything. Babylon takes the smart people and exiles them to Babylon and leaves everyone else in chaos. Lamentations is all about the aftermath of the destruction. It’s terribly sad. The people who didn’t get shipped to Babylon had to deal with famine, violence, and the collapse of society.
If I had to warn about the destruction, witness it, and then write about the aftermath, I would have wept too.
But there’s hope. Because God told Jeremiah, he would restore Israel and bless the whole world through that nation/family! The Jews came back to Jerusalem and then 500 years later, a baby was born in Bethlehem. You know, the saving king!
With sadness and hope, Jeremiah proclaims that God is faithful, because he was to…
Abraham
Issac
Slaves in Egypt
David
Daniel
Rack, Shack, and Benny
Mary
Paul
And now you.
Though things today aren’t the greatest, God is still faithful! Jesus died on the cross. He rose again. He ascended into Heaven, and He is coming back again!
Praise the Lord for he is faithful!
How is your faithfulness to God right now?
What is going on in your life that makes God feel close or distant?
What is your favorite example of God’s faithfulness?
This may be hard, but I want you to think of all the gifts that God has given you. Name little things too. How has God been faithful to you in the good times and the bad? (I’ll get you started)
Oxygen, gravity, pillows, Jesus’ death and resurrection… (your turn)
[1] Aloe Vera is what your grandma or mom puts on your sunburns.