“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward.” (2 Peter 3:9a)
Have you ever heard the phrase “You have my word”? or “You have my word on it”? That means that the person speaking is making a promise based on his or her own track record. If a very honest person tells you he will take care of something for you, saying, “you have my word on it,” then that means you can trust him. He is telling the truth. If a very careful person tells you she will be on time for a meeting, saying, “You have my word, I’ll be there,” then she wants you to know you can trust her to be at the meeting on time.
The kind of people whose word you can trust – they are the ones you can count on. They are faithful. They are dependable. Usually, they will not let you down.
Why do we add usually to that sentence? Well, even the most faithful human beings are still only human. They make mistakes. They forget. They get stopped by circumstances that are out of their control. And they sin. If you leave your backpack with an honest person, he still might not be able to stop a robber from stealing it. If you are counting on a reliable friend to be exactly on time for a Saturday morning meeting, she may not be able to come at all. What if her alarm doesn’t go off and she accidentally oversleeps? Or what if her family decides at the last minute to go out of town for the weekend? Even the most faithful people might let you down sometimes. Humans can only be trustworthy to a certain point.
But the Lord is not like us. If He promises something in His Word, we definitely have His Word on it! And nothing can stop God from doing what He plans to do. No traffic jam or robber or change of human plans can mess up God’s plans. God never forgets. He never sins. He never changes His mind about whether He cares about His people enough to keep His Word to them.
Is there a promise that you think God has made you but not kept? He may not keep that promise exactly the way you want Him to, and He may not carry that promise out exactly when you wanted Him to. But He is not slack (lazy) concerning His promises. He may be taking a long time, but He will always finish what He says He will do. Often, He waits because He wants to show us mercy. (Some of God’s promises are about punishing stubborn sinners, and He is giving them a longer time to repent and turn to Him.)
When the Lord gives His Word, we can always count on Him. He will never let us down.
The Lord is always faithful to keep His Word.
My Response:
» Am I the kind of person who people think of as “faithful” and “trustworthy”?
» Do I think rightly about the Lord’s faithfulness and trust Him to keep His Word?
» How can I show others that I am trusting and obeying a faithful God?