Week #3 Noticing and Trusting God’s Faithfulness

God is for us!! (Romans 8:31-32)

 

A glorious and generous God is pursuing you. That is the greatest fact of your existence.

https://markbair.substack.com/p/does-gods-work-feel-invasive

My Surprising Narrative Shift: https://markbair.substack.com/p/you-are-being-pursued-a-glorious

God’s faithfulness is his love in action, his relational commitment—an active and passionate pursuit of me based on who He is, not who I am—my wavering and wearying pursuit of God based on my own righteousness.

God’s faithful pursuit, His loyal love, is variously translated in English as “steadfast love” (ESV), “lovingkindness” (NASB), “unfailing love” (NIV, NLT), and “faithful love” (HCSB). It is the Hebrew word hesed, which is about God’s covenant loyalty and promise-keeping. In covenants, God vows to remain faithful to His people.  He sticks with you.

This God Who Pursues is none other than Yahweh, the God of Israel, and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Beware of the god of your imagination. We all have a tendency toward idolatry—serving the false gods of our culture, usually unwittingly projecting those onto the God of the Bible. That God scares us. We want a god we can manage, who is tame, predictable, and “domesticated.”

Scriptures: Psalm 23; 13:5; 40:10; 42:8; 103; 1 Thess 5:23,24; 2 Timothy 2:13; James 4:4-6

 

God's pursuing, faithful love is the true and comprehensive account of every Christian's life. Over against this account of your life is often a rival account, a distorted narrative, in which your sense of identity is shaped by, “I have succeeded at this,” or “I have failed at that.”

How do you tell/think of your story?

  • A series of random and unfortunate accidents and failures?

  • A resume of righteous achievements?

  • Do you emphasize your failures and the wrongs done to you?

  • Is it possible that you are telling a negatively biased account?

 

God says my story and your story is this: “I carried you” (Isaiah 46:3,4).

God initiates (Psalm 23:6) and consistently gives the gift of His active presence, and protects you from real harm (Psalm 23:4)

 

God’s pursuit is constant and passionate (Isaiah 62:5). His love fights for you (James 4:4-6).

 

God pursues you relentlessly and passionately with His loyal love in all circumstances.

 

How to Notice God’s Pursuit and Welcome His Gifts

Affirm God’s faithfulness in the pleasures he gives

Noting and expressing gratitude to God for small pleasures increases pleasure and helps you not to expect them as a right or entitlement. Don’t try to “bottle” blessings or demand “encores.”

Affirm God’s faithfulness in the provisions he sends

Provisions may not always be pleasurable, but they are beneficial. Often taken for granted.

Affirm God’s faithfulness in the people he sends

·       There will be people who build you up, and you will feel strengthened.

·       There will be people who serve you because of their weakness or brokenness. You can’t “fix” them or “cheer them up.”

·       There will be people you don’t like. 

·       There will be people who hurt you. 

 

Affirming God’s faithfulness in the pain he permits

I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. (Ps. 119:75)

Sometimes, God’s faithfulness can be painful and perplexing. The God of grace inflicts wounds (Isaiah 30:26; Proverbs 3:11,12/Hebrews 12:5-11)

 

For Next Week:

Reflect on your current experience and your past experiences. Did God send some gifts in the form of pleasures, provisions, people, and pain that you perhaps have missed or undervalued?