GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS by Larry W Peebles February 22, 2019 19.06
The pressure was great. A large real estate transaction needed to close, and one of the pieces to the transaction was not in place. It was my responsibility to conclude the deal. The Fortune 500 Company I worked for was one day away from the end of their financial quarter. This was a significant transaction. Corporate officers were calling daily to see if we were going to close. In one day we would reach the end of the quarter. If the transaction closed, I would meet my responsibility, and the earnings from the transaction would be reported to shareholders in the fiscal quarter. If the transaction did not close, I would be involved in some unpleasant explanations as to why not.
The buyer needed only one document to complete their due diligence on the subject property. Otherwise, they were fully prepared to close. They wanted a letter from the County that stated adequate water service was available to the property. This was reasonable because they intended to develop the property for new home construction if they purchased it. Without adequate water, the property had no value to the buyer. The County had no obligation to provide such a letter, but they usually did as a courtesy to owners or potential owners. For some reason, they had not responded to our numerous requests for a letter.
Earlier in the year, I had received a small bonus from the Company. My wife and I were so grateful. We prayed and discussed what offering we would give to the Lord from the money we had received. I strongly felt He wanted us to feed the hungry, and provide water to the thirsty. Accordingly, we made a donation to a local homeless ministry where we had served hands-on and provided financial support for years. They house and feed the homeless, and do an exemplary job of it. They have a short-term strategy to provide immediate help, and a longer-term strategy to attack the root cause of the homeless situation. We also donated to a ministry we followed that was actively involved in drilling water wells in Africa. We were satisfied that we had done our best to follow God’s direction for our offering.
Months later, while driving to work the day before the end of the fiscal quarter, I prayed and asked the Lord for help in closing the transaction. I heard Him clearly say “You have seed in the ground for water.” I knew immediately what He meant. God had not forgotten our offering to that water well ministry. The seed we planted with our offering months before was about to produce a harvest. I was so overwhelmed with hearing from the Lord, and confident that help was on the way. Later that day the County sent the letter regarding the availability of water to our property, and we in turn delivered it to the buyer. The next day, the last day of the fiscal quarter, the transaction closed. God is so faithful.
In 1995, my wife and I made our first missions trip to Cuba. That same year, she had a vision of the people of India surrounded by fire and crying out for help with their hands raised. She knew in her heart one day she would go to India. As I write this article, some 24 years and many mission trips after that 1995 vision, we are departing for our first trip to India. We will bring prayer, encouragement and support to an orphanage, a widow’s home, and a lepers’ colony, to name a few of the opportunities planned by our host. God is so faithful.
Later this year, we will have been married for 50 years. After only eleven years or so I almost single-handedly wrecked our marriage, but God would not allow it to fail. Forgiveness and love overcame that crisis, and He put our marriage back together better than it was before. Over the years that followed, we have truly grown together as one with the Lord. He was part of our wedding vows in the beginning, and did not fail to keep His part of the promise in spite of my failure. Now we celebrate the 50-year Jubilee of our marriage. God is so faithful.
Whether we realize it or not, God is faithful. Whether we appreciate it or not, God is faithful. It may be a few months, twenty four years, or fifty years before we recognize it, but He is faithful. He is faithful to His plan for each of us, and He is faithful to the promises He has made to each of us. He cannot lie, so He has bound Himself with His own word. In John’s vision of the Last Days, he described Jesus- “I saw heaven standing open and there was before me a white horse, whose rider [Jesus] is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God.” (Revelation 19:11-13.) Because Jesus is Truth (John 14:6), His plans and promises for us are true and reliable. This is what makes Him faithful. In these days, and in the Last Days, He is the only one we can trust in and rely upon. The description of His appearance in the Last Days gives a vivid picture of the fierceness of His faithfulness. He is passionately jealous to guard His word. The one who comes on the white horse at the end is not just called faithful and true, He is Faithful and True. Everything He has promised will be fulfilled. His word, and His faithfulness, are an inseparable part of His character.
Scriptures are rich on His faithfulness. Consider and receive encouragement from these ten verses:
Lamentations 3:22-23– “The Lord’s loving kindness indeed never ceases, for His compassion never fails. They are new every morning; great is His faithfulness.”
Deuteronomy 31:6– “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave or forsake you.”
Numbers 23:19– “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
Hebrews 10:23– “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
2 Timothy 2:13– “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”
Deuteronomy 7:9– “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations.”
Psalms 119:90– “Your faithfulness endures to all generations, You have established the earth, and it stands fast.”
Psalm 33:4– “For the Word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness.”
Psalm 91:4– “He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”
2 Thessalonians 3:3– “The Lord is faithful, He will establish you and guard you from the evil one.”
When we feel insufficient or inadequate to take the next big step, and to move toward the high-call God has destined for our lives and our future, we can remember His faithfulness. He will do what He has said He will do, and provide what we need to do it. He often asks us to take that first step without sufficient training or resources so that we can experience His faithfulness. 2 Corinthians 3:5 says –“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.” When the next step seems impossible, and we know we cannot do it without Him, then by His great faithfulness He does it through us. He hands us the victory.
