Who is faithful

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

WHO IS FAITHFUL

Prov 25:19

19 Like a bad tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in times of trouble.

NIV

There is nothing worse than a bad tooth. The pain associated with having a tooth aching in the mouth is, at times, unbearable. But the original language is really a broken tooth. This carries more of the sense of a tooth which is useless to chew with. A broken tooth cannot help in the process of making the food ready for the stomach. So it is also with a lame foot. The foot is needed to walk correctly and if one is lame it is, in essence, useless. So it is with an unfaithful person. This unfaithfulness is not in regard to the marriage bed, but rather simply as someone who cannot be relied upon. Who of us can say we are always faithful toward someone who is having trouble? Oh, we might help them out for a moment, but are we there for them throughout their difficult times? We have our own life, we need to go to work, or mow our lawn, or fix something around the house, or go shopping for food, or whatever. We cannot be totally faithful to support another during their troubled times. This also applies to those times when we might be going through some troubled times. How much can we depend on others to stay the course with us, undergirding us, supporting us until the times are over? They also have a life to live, things to do, family of their own who need looking after. The fact, we as people, cannot be relied upon. We are all unfaithful, both to each other and to the Lord. What this saying is pointing to is that no person can be relied upon in times of trouble, but it is only the Lord who we can depend on.

Ps 9:9-10

9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

NIV

Ps 59:16

16 But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love;  for you are my fortress,  my refuge in times of trouble .

NIV

He is always faithful to his word. He tells us over and over again that he is our help, he is or refuge in times of trouble. We might look around expecting someone to come to our aid, but it is the Lord who will do it. It seems more natural to look to another person who we can see and talk to and hear their audible answer, even if it is, no I cannot help you. We have a tendency to live in the seen, and the Lord is in the unseen. We have a tendency to trust in the things we can see and touch and hear. But all those are also among things we truly cannot rely upon as ultimately they all will fail us. But the Lord, even though we think he is unseen is in fact seen in everything all around us. We glance at the world around us. We see the heavens, the host of stars and planets. We see the trees and all the various plant life. We see all the birds in the air, the fish in the waters and the animals upon the ground and we see God. Not that he is in them, but that he created all of that for his glory and to put us among it so we could see him through all that he created. He is not unseen, but seen. Therefor we can have the confidence to know that he is there to be a faithful fortress for us in times of trouble so that we might give him all the honor, all the praise and all the glory, for he is faithful.