God is Faithful:

In divorce
In death
In poverty
In want
In heartbreak
In relentless difficulty
In disaster
In loneliness
In loss

God is faithful.

I was reading an entry from about two years ago, rejoicing over the ways that God had provided and had shown his faithfulness by bringing to completion things that had been a struggle for many years. There were pictures demonstrating specific ways in which God had really come through.

Interestingly enough, things have changed since then. One of those pictures of God's faithfulness has been torn. Again. And this time is seemingly worse than the first time.

So, I'm back again - talking about God's faithfulness. And this time I'm talking more specifically about God's faithfulness in the times where restoration doesn't seem possible or at least very near.

Yes, God redeems that which is broken. Yes, he heals the tattered heart. Yes, he restores that which has been brought low. Yes, he brings to life that which has become filled with a stench of death.

But even when we are lying in brokenness, having been brought low, suffering from a tattered heart and feeling like death - God is faithful.

He brings joy, and he brings calamity.

For those who believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah - God's chosen Son - who lived as a man, and who died a torturous death, and who rose again, conquering sin and death, reconciling man to God through faith in his finished work - for these people, the calamity and pain are for refinement - to make you pure. And your faith which is more valuable than gold will be made pure for the day when Jesus comes back. God will hold you so that you will remain faithful, and God himself will be proven faithful.

Even when that which has been healed falls once again and becomes broken, God is faithful. He never fails - even when it feels like he has. Be patient. God will restore all things in the last day. Cling to him now and hold steadfastly to the hope which is grounded in the finished work of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Praise be to the Living God who never fails.