The Lilly Pond

Great is Thy Faithfulness

For a great many years of my life, I have taught Sunday School. My first opportunity came when I was a freshman in college, I finished out the last few weeks of a school year for the Senior class of girls at my church. Their teacher had become ill and had to quit. I was only a year older than they were and it was pretty intimidating. But God was faithful.

I lived with my Aunt Lois in Houston for a while and went to church with her and Uncle Johnny. I was asked to teach a class of 5-year-olds. I had NO experience with little children and they made me more nervous than the senior girls! My mother told me not to worry if they moved around a lot; just as long as they were quiet - they were listening. And brother, could those little girls move! But again, God was faithful.

One of my favorite ages to teach was a little group of third-grade girls. My husband had boys the same age across the hall. We were teaching through the book of Genesis and those little girls were like dry sponges, soaking up God's words. They were really reading well by third grade and helping them to read the Bible was such a blessing. I learned even more that God was faithful.

It is an humbling experience to stand before a group of people, regardless of their ages, and attempt to bring them a lesson from the Lord. Who am I, that I could possibly teach something as inscrutable as God's word? What could I possibly teach them? Couldn't someone else do a better job?

My mother's favorite verse of scripture was Lamentations 3:22-23. "It is because of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness."

It has just been in the last few years that I have begun to grasp the significance of the last part of that verse. We are so self-absorbed, so "me" oriented, and focused on our own efforts, our own skills, that we loose sight of what is really going on. Am I really worthy to teach? Of course not. Do I really have anything to say? Never. But God does. And He is faithful. 

To try to make a list of the characteristics of God in this space would be ridiculous in the extreme. But as I enjoyed God's mercies and compassions that were new to me this morning, I was reminded of a few aspects of God that point to His faithfulness. 

1. God is faithful to love us. I John 4:8 "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. How can we know that God loves us?  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him."
   
   And always moving our focus back to God. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

2. God is faithful to forgive us. I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." I was raised with  King James Bible. And it uses the word "cleanse" in this verse. How wonderful and refreshing to feel that clean. And we can because HE is the faithful one.

3. God is faithful to keep us. John 10:28 "I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." What security and peace - to know that my being safe depends on Almighty God!

4. God is faithful to comfort us. II Corinthians 1:3, 4 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassions and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles."

5. 5. God is faithful to finish us. Philipians 1:6 "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Thank you Lord for your mercy and compassion that was new just this morning! Most of all Lord, thank you for YOUR faithfulness.

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