“Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol Him, all peoples! For great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!” Psalm 117
Reading this Psalm I was intrigued by these two qualities of God being smooshed together. His steadfast love and His faithfulness, what could one attribute have with the other? It sparked something in me that I wanted to investigate further. His love and His faithfulness connect. How? At what point? And to what end?
From day one I have been head-over-heels in love with my husband. The sun rose in his hair and the stars shone in his eyes. His arms have always been protective bands of iron wrapped around me and keeping me from all harm. He has always been my everything. My love for him kept me faithful to my promises to him and to God, because there were times when I wanted to bail on them, for sure. But I couldn’t do it because no matter how hurt or angry or betrayed I felt, it never changed the Truth. God put us together. We were made for each other. Knit together in mother’s wombs, formed to be united for eternity and no scheme of the Enemy could succeed against the plans God has for us. (Genesis 50:20)
God’s love for you keeps Him faithful to you. He has said, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
For we know according to Romans 8:28 that for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (or plan), all things will work together for their good.
God’s plans are perfect. How do I know this? Ummm… because he’s GOD. He knows EVERYTHING, past, present and future. If you knew everything there was to know in the universe don’t you think you’re plans would be pretty successful? If you created humanity to be weak and in need of a savior, wouldn’t you make sure to take those weaknesses into account when you made your plans for them? If you were omnipotent and able to know your enemy’s moves before he made them, don’t you think your plans would be pretty fail proof?
Right now you may feel like your situation is hopeless. You may feel like you’re in a very dark place with no future, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Take a look at the story of Joseph. His brothers threw him in a dark pit, hopeless and alone. They pulled him out only to sell him as a slave in Egypt – any hope of a prosperous future had been whipped out of him by the time he got there. The wife of his master lied about him and he got thrown into prison – back in the dark with even less hope of a future. You can see how at this point those plans God had for Joseph, you know the dreams about everyone in his family bowing to him, yeah, those plans looked deader than a doornail at this point. His family was nowhere near him how could those dreams ever come true?
But no scheme of hell is able to prevail over the plans of God and His steadfast love spurring on His faithfulness. The next part of Joseph’s journey was nothing short of an amazing miracle. Pharaoh had a dream, Joseph was the only one to interpret it and bodabing bodaboom Joseph is not only released from prison he’s promoted to the highest position in all of Egypt, save that of Pharaoh.
Not proof enough for you that Satan doesn’t get to win? Then how about I share another example with you, like a second witness in a trial against Satan’s schemes.
-Tomorrow. 😉
Tamar Knochel 