To Abraham’s sinful and impatient journey into Egypt, God offered a blessed promise to give him countless children. To Sarah’s faithless presentation of her handmaid to bare a child, God answered with children of both Hagar and Sarah – with Sarah in her old age! To Jacob’s deception of his father, God brought a dream of a ladder and twelve sons to surround him in his later days. For, my friend, He is ever faithful!
To Joseph’s brothers who sold him into slavery and broke the heart of their father, God brought the salvation of Egypt’s storehouses to keep their children alive in a vast famine! To Moses’ impulsive killing of an Egyptian guard, God brought a burning bush and a commission of leadership with unprecedented miracles and signs. To Israel’s golden calves in the wilderness God brought the tablets of the law, and the plans for a traveling worship center! Why? Because our God is ever faithful!
To a murmuring and faithless generation of Israelites in the desert God brought manna from the winds and water from the rocks. To Aachan’s sinful stealing of the spoils of Jericho, God brought victory upon victory into the hands of His people against the Canaanite foe. To an angry and thankless generation of Israel’s children God brought champion upon champion to rescue the tribes from their self-caused enslavement! All this He did, and more, for He is ever faithful!
From hard-hearted and stubborn men who insisted on a king, God brought a tender-hearted, singing shepherd to the throne! To a pleasure seeking and self-indulgent king, God brought the princes of the world to pay homage to the Temple at Jerusalem. Nineteen kings passed through the throne of Jerusalem’s Judean kingdom – most of them evil- hearted and selfish. Yet God brought prophet upon prophet to assure them He had not left them:
· Isaiah cried out that a Savior would come! God was not finished with them!
· Jeremiah promised that God would renew the hearts of this people! He still wanted them!
· Ezekiel shared the plans of a Temple that would finally bring people to the
true worship! How their God loved to hear them praise!
· Daniel told of a time when the nations would no longer punish Jerusalem! God waited to restore “the mountain He set his name upon for all the ages”.
· Hosea exposed the broken heart of God for the adulterous generation to turn and be restored! Even used – she could be restored to His love!
· Joel warned of the invasion of men like locusts into Israel! God would use the nations to break the will of His people, that they may again feel His warm embrace!
· Amos shouted to a heartless crowd of coming blows of judgment so that God could plow the ground for a future harvest of blessing to His beloved nation!
· Micah howled a bitter judgment to Israel’s mountain fortresses, for God wanted the worship of His people for Him alone!
· Nahum forecast the destruction of the great city of Nineveh, for God would not allow heathen to harm His beloved without retribution.
· From the darkest days of Judah’s sinful past, God brought a song to Zephaniah to promise days of strength and blessing ahead – for God was not finished with His people!
God said the nation of Israel is the “apple of His eye” (Zech 2:8) and the object of His “everlasting love” (Jer. 31:1). She is His beloved wife, His eternal possession, His inheritance redeemed through His greatness (Dt. 9:6). He promised that the “sun would fade into darkness, stars would fall” before His love for them would end, and God is ever faithful!