Right now people all over the world are reflecting on what was 2013. There were potentially great joys and triumphs along with days of despair and discouragement. But there is one thing that you can guarantee happened in 2013, and you can be sure awaits you in 2014: God has been faithful and will be again.
Those words—God has been faithful and will be again—appear in the lyrics of “He’s Always Been Faithful”, by Sara Groves. In the song she recounts God’s faithfulness through each morning and each season: “Season by season, I watch Him amazed; in awe of the mysteries of His perfect ways.” Every page in God’s word shouts of the faithfulness of God. Each story leads to Jesus and to the redemption of the world. And we see God’s faithfulness to us now.
In Deuteronomy 32:4, Moses speaks of God as “The Rock” whose works are “perfect” and ways are “justice.” He is “a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” And we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:25 of Paul’s confidence in the faithfulness of God: “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” Psalm 88, though a lament, still sings of God’s faithfulness: “I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations…O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you?” (1-2, 8).
Today, as you reflect on your 2013, remember the faithfulness of your Father. How has God been faithful to you? This year you can count on the Lord to be faithful again. This doesn’t mean that everything will turn out as you desire. This doesn’t mean each prayer will be answered as you wish. But it does mean that in God’s goodness and sovereignty, he will work all things together as he sees it to be good for you (Rom. 8:28). We may not see the evidence of God’s faithful hand until the end of 2014 but we know it will be there. Be encouraged to know that 2014 will be marked by the faithfulness of God.