Mountain Monergism Movement

Unfaithfulness is most rampant today. A man’s word is hardly ever deemed his bond as it once was. Finding someone we can count on has become a very hard task. Unfaithfulness is also found in the pulpit. I’m not just talking about the pastors and priests that have let down their congregations with public sins. We also find in some churches preachers that have covenanted to preach the truth, but fear the outcome if they do, so avoid most of God’s Word being unfaithful to their calling.

I find I must ask myself; How many times and ways have I been unfaithful to Christ. I’m sorry to say, I for one have failed my God many times. Thank God my LORD is not like I am. We can count on Him because He is faithful in all things, and faithful at all times.

Deu 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

This quality is essential to His being, without it He would not be God. For God to be unfaithful would be to act contrary to His nature, which of course is impossible.

Ps. 89:8 O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee? or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee?

There are times in the lives of all of us when it is not easy to believe that God is faithful. Maybe it’s a time when our faith has been stretched to it’s end and our eyes our red from tears, and like Job we feel left without His love and on our own. In these hard times, Satan may whisper words telling us God does not care or even thoughts may be planted in order to question our faith. Something has gone wrong in our plans, and maybe even friends, on whom we can always count on have now failed us. A brother or sister in Christ has betrayed us. We are staggered. We have tried our best to be faithful to God, and now a dark cloud hides Him from us. Is He even there? Does he even care?

When you are tempted to doubt the faithfulness of God, we must rest in the goodness of His faithful Word and promise. Do not move in your faith, but wait on God. Although you cannot understand the mysterious dealings of God’s love in times like these, wait on Him for more light. In His own good time He will make it plain to you.

God’s seemingly absence may be as simple as God wanting you to just slow down and smell the flowers. There are times when we need to stop life for a while and just think. He may remove your good friends for a time in order to teach you how to pray and trust in Him for everything. At times He does not respond as quickly as we had hoped. Yet, when His blessings begin to flow, we are more thankful for all of His blessings.

John 13:7 What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter

Isa. 30:18 And therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him

Even when God’s presence is known to us and the message is clear, it is mankind that often struggles with their belief and not God and His faithfulness. We see this when Peter was in jail. The “faithful” had been praying that God would step into the situation and have Peter released from jail. They know well that God answers prayer. Yet what was their reaction when Rhoda tells them Peter was at the door? The faithful saints more or less said…”Rhoda, You are out of your mind”.

And what about the time when God came to Abraham? When God says that He will cause a son to be born to a husband and wife who are nearly one hundred years old, more than just His power is in question. With such a statement, God’s credibility is also at stake. Is God reliable? Is He trustworthy? Can we expect Him to do what He says He will do? When that promise was made to Abraham, he literally fell on his face and laughed. Abraham had not yet fully come to believe that God’s Word could be trusted. And neither had Sarah, his wife. When she heard the same promise, she too laughed. Her faith had not grown beyond the example she observed in her husband.

Now the Bible is not clear when or how this happened, but at some point in time, Abraham’s faith grew and he then believed God. Both Abraham and Sarah became convinced that God would do what He promised to do.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us the story from Sarah’s perspective: “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” (Hebrews 11:11). She not only believed that God could give her a son, but also that He would, because He is a faithful God. His Word is reliable and His promises are trustworthy. They needed only to wait on God.Maybe we can better understand the Bible when it says:

Be still and know that I am God.

I often like to play a game with my dog. When I first hear the faint sound of a car door closing and I know one of our family members has just arrived home, I will whisper to my dog, “listen”. He then stands and brings all of his senses to full attention. His ears standup as he hones in on any sound. His nose begins to wiggle, as he smells the air for a telling sent. He quickly scans the windows to see if he can get the first glance of who may be coming home. At times the one that has arrived is held up outside. My dog waits. He still stands in full attention waiting for that sign of life from outside the house. Then it happens. He hears footsteps and sees someone passing a window and he begins his welcome home bark.

I think maybe we can learn a few things from my dog. When God tells us in His Word to “be still and know that I am God”, he is speaking of more then just being quiet. In hard times when we feel left alone we must be just like my little dog. Just as he watches closely for signs of things happening, we too are to be ready in full attention, scanning all of the doors in our life and watcing as God works out His plan. At times this may take a while. We must wait and know that God is faithful. In time God will show his movement in our life.

God does not work on our time schedule. Does not the Bible tell us that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”. God works in His own time. He will meet our needs just in time. In times of need we want answers and we want them now. If God does not answer us by the end of the day, we think something is wrong. We think God must have let us down this time. No, you need to wait, be still, and know that God is faithful.

Our fast-food society makes waiting difficult. Our society continues to bombard us with a message of instant gratification. "Why wait? Why not now? If you don't get it now, then you will never get it. Buy now, and pay later. Satisfy your desire now, and deal with the consequence another time." Our society says we would be happier if we get what we want now.

There are great lessons to be learned by waiting on God’s time table. Waiting for God is an authentic reality of faith. We may fail to keep our word because we lose interest. God never loses interest. He is immutable. He never changes His mind. We may not follow through because it no longer suits our selfish purposes. but God will always keep His Word. We however, may need to be still and know that He is God.