Trust
If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:13 NKJV)
We who are believers trust the Lord because we are confident that He tells us the truth in the Bible. The prophecies that were fulfilled with the Lord’s first coming, prophecies that were written many years before their fulfillment, give us confidence in the Bible. What the Bible says about the heart of each of us, also gives us reason to believe that the Bible is the actual Word of God that came from God and that it is dependable. We also believe that God gave us the Bible because in the text He says He did. Through it many of us say that we trust the Lord, but can the Lord trust us?
Tests
Solomon started out well but was turned aside by foreign wives. Late in life he may have realized his error and he may have been restored to fellowship with the Lord. I base that on some of the things that he says in the book of Ecclesiastes which likely was written late in his life. He says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV).”
It appears that all of the original twelve apostles except Judas were trustworthy, even to the point of being willing to die as martyrs for the Lord and for the Gospel. Paul, the apostle that saw himself as the chiefest of sinners, faithfully preached the Gospel in Rome and, since he appeared before Caesar, likely preached the gospel to Nero who was ruling about the time that Paul was condemned. Paul was faithful although no man stood with him when he defended himself to Caesar. He says, “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them (2 Timothy 4:16 NKJV).” Wouldn’t it be something if Nero ended up in heaven through Paul’s testimony while those who are skeptics today miss out on God’s great plan of salvation!
We know of people, missionaries in particular, that gave up everything in order to spread the Gospel. We know that the Lord trusted them. We know of people who have been “trusted” with trials that have encouraged others and which helped to spread the Gospel.
Examples of Faithfulness
Daniel and his three friends were able to overcome the peer pressure of the Babylon Institute for the Magic Arts, in order to be faithful to the Lord. The three friends were thrown into a burning fiery furnace because of their faithfulness to God. They would not bow down to an image of Nebuchadnezzar even though they knew the consequences and had not been assured of deliverance because of their faithfulness. Daniel was thrown into a den of lions because He prayed to God faithfully when he was only supposed to pray to Darius. Esther was willing to risk her life in order to save the lives of her fellow countrymen who were in captivity in Babylon. Hebrews 11 gives us a list of people who were faithful in the Old Testament. They were considered faithful even though in many cases their lives had what we call “flaws.”
Peer Pressure
Peer pressure (often from less than committed Christians) causes all of us to pause and ask ourselves if standing by our convictions is really necessary to please God. It seems that what appears to be success even in spiritual things is often achieved by those who do not walk the path that we are convinced believers should walk.
I wonder what kind of rewards most of us are going to have when we meet the Lord. Will we be among those who invested our talents wisely and gained something for the Lord and for eternity?
Will we be among those that the Lord was able to trust?
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of June 4, 2023
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