Faithful To Me

Among the most persistent and precious themes in all of Scripture is the faithfulness of God.  We see again and again that our Father is one who pursues and woos, who seeks and saves, and who holds us fast even when we feel we’ve lost our hold on Him. 

There are times when it is easy to feel the reality of God’s faithfulness: at fireside or feasting table with old friends; on a perfect morning, early light sifting slantwise across the meadow; holding a newborn baby, moved to tears by tiny lashes and toes. These are bright evidences of our Father’s care. In such times, we cannot help but “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

But God’s faithfulness, if it is as Scripture describes, does not have spare days. Indeed, it is most potent when most desperately needed and, often, perhaps also least obvious. In the times when our own faith has worn to a nub; when it feels we’ve made our bed in darkness. As the poetry of Psalm 139 describes:

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there;if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. – Psalm 139:7-10

It is in this place of lowest-of-lows that God’s faithfulness becomes most meaningful – when our fingernail grip can no longer hold. Even when our suffering is, in part, our own fault. Here the faithfulness of God pokes through like starlight piercing the dark sheet of night. 

It was in such a context – the ache of a people who’d reaped the anguished sorrow of their betrayal of their God – that Jeremiah penned the words that form the refrain of this song; words sung by generations as they’ve lifted up that age-old hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness. He wrote:

Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. – Lamentations 3:19-23

For the friends who wrote this song, Faithful to Me, together, God’s faithfulness has also been deeply needed – and deeply real – amidst journeys of foster care and adoption. The simple truth is that whenever a Christian follows Jesus into the world’s pain, welcoming into our hearts and homes young lives that have known much hurt, we will certainly share in their hurt. Make no mistake: this journey carries much joy, too – far more than one can find in more comfortable, well-padded places. But it also most always includes great struggle, too.

We taste at least some of what Paul described in saying, “I want to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering.”  (Philippians 3:10). In these places, we long for God’s faithfulness as nowhere else. And as we see it anew, we taste in a way we may never have before. And we know that there is nothing sweeter on earth than to experience the faithfulness of God – our Father and Friend, Defender and Shepherd. Great is His faithfulness.