Dependable God - Martin Wiles

I am the Lord, and I do not change. Malachi 3:6 NLT

I was as dependable as the newspaper I delivered.

Among the several jobs I had as a teenager, delivering newspapers was one. Since I delivered the state paper, I delivered to customers who were widely separated. This required getting up early to complete my route. Fortunately, I was a responsible teenager. I set my alarm clock for 2 a.m., dressed, and headed for an abandoned gas station where I picked up and assembled my papers. From here, I drove several miles to my first stop. Although I didn’t have hundreds of customers, my route required around two hours to complete, giving me about an hour to sleep before I had to get back up for school. When I got up, I often asked Mom, “Did I run my paper route?” Regardless of my feelings or the weather, I delivered my papers.

Pagan gods were often fickle. Undependable. They could grant a bountiful crop. Or they could sit back and watch the humans sweat and then send a terrible storm or dry spell that would completely wipe out any potential crop. So those who worshiped them thought. In contrast, the one true God the nation of Israel worshiped was different. He was consistent and dependable. 

God is also dependable in delivering salvation. Not only does He tell what is wrong with humanity, but He also promises a solution. We are sinful. If not delivered from those sins, we’ll pay eternally for them. On the other hand, we can accept what God has done on our behalf by believing in Jesus Christ. When we do, God promises to deliver salvation. And he does every time and to every person who seeks it.

Love is another of God’s dependable traits. He loves unconditionally. Regardless of how we treat him, he will love us. His love won’t overlook our transgressions should we choose not to repent, but he will continue to love even when he expresses it through his holy wrath.

God’s guidance is also dependable. We can rely on him to provide direction no matter our circumstances. God enjoys helping those he has created and loves. He has our best interests at heart and will willingly guide us into a bright future when we follow his plan.

Lean on the God who is dependable. Don’t depend on other things that will disappoint you.

Father, when all else fails me, I am confident you never will. 

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All-the-Time God - Martin Wiles

And the LORD did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people. Exodus 13:22 NLT

She has some age on her, so I call her sometimey.

I love SUVs, so when we bought a new car I decided to keep driving the one my wife and I had driven for the last three years: a 2002 Ford Explorer with around 250,000 miles on the odometer. I say around because the odometer is sometimey. It only shows up once in a while.

The air is also sometimey. About a year ago, it decided it would stop coming out of the top vents and blow only out of the bottom vents. Rather than a cool upper body, I now keep cold feet. Then one day, I heard the mechanism open and suddenly air came from the vents it was supposed to. Four weeks later, it started coming from below again.

And then there’s the windows—all electric. They, too, are sometimey. Sometimes they roll down and roll back up, sometimes they roll down but won’t roll back up, and sometimes they won’t do either. Turning the car off and re-cranking it sometimes jump starts them. At other times, opening the door and closing it hard does the trick.

In spite of the sometimey parts on my car, I still love her. She’s been good and is still in good mechanical working order. I’ve just learned to put up with her sometimeyness.

But I wouldn’t want to serve a God who operated the same way. Fortunately, He doesn’t. After delivering His people from Egyptian slavery, He guided them consistently with a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire during the night.

God’s guidance of His current people mimics His guidance in the days of old. He is the same and never changes. I may come across incidents recorded in the Bible that seem to imply God changes, but that is only me trying to understand God from a human perspective. God doesn’t change His plans, character, or eternality.

What seems like change falls under the term sovereignty. In human time, it may appear God has changed, but whatever it is was already in God’s mind from the beginning.

Most importantly, God won’t change His mind about salvation, forgiveness, and eternity. Once we accept Him, we are His eternally. Nor will He take back His forgiveness of our sins.

When you can’t depend on anything or anyone else, you can always depend on God.

Prayer: Father, we thank You for being the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

Tweetable: What are you depending on?

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