One of the most difficult matters in our declining culture is the lack of reliability of so many people in so many places. This is very obvious in the political environment. We are pleasantly surprised when a politician actually does anything they have promised. Failure and fraud are active at every level of living. We must in wisdom be cautious and guarded in every personal interaction. We may enlist someone to do needed repairs around our home. In many cases the work will not be performed as promised. Once in the past we hired some professionals to do some work at our home only to find that they were engaged in theft. Contracts are made to prop up reliability, but the courts are filled and backlogged with complaint cases. We have become hardened to this pervading manner of life. The Scripture explains, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick, who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Imagine someone so reliable that they have never told a lie, not even a mild exaggeration. They have never made a promise that was not or would not be kept. This Person is in the highest of all positions, and absolutely faithful in every detail for everything that exists everywhere. That is the beauty and wonder of our God. His faithfulness is so pure and perfect that He is infinitely and eternally reliable. “God is not a man, that He would lie, nor a son of man, that He would change His mind; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). The importance of this reality is far beyond measure. We read of our Lord Jesus Christ, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). The reason we can lay down at night and sleep knowing the earth will not collide with Jupiter or the Sun is because Christ holds every molecule in perfect order. It is no wonder that Moses declared of God foreseeing Christ, “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and just is He” (Deut. 32:4).

As we take for granted the reality of man’s unreliability, we also tend to take for granted God’s absolute reliability. When we think about it, His faithfulness is that which undergirds our faith in Him. We can trust God because He is faithful. The Greek word translated as “faithful” is pistos, which at its root means sure or true. God’s trustworthiness is integrated into His attributes, especially His love, justice, and holiness. The beauty and reliability of these character attributes are infinitely supported by His sovereignty, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, and immutability. All of His attributes are eternal and infallible. They cannot fail. And they are perfectly integrated together so that there is not the slightest bending of any promise or the slightest degree of unfaithfulness. By the essence of who God is, He cannot be unfaithful. It is this absolute confident trust in His total reliability and faithfulness that makes our salvation by faith in Him so completely sound.

When I was actively working in the secular world, I came to realize that a business is able to be successful or fail most often based humanly on the quality of its employees. There are varieties of personalities and traits found in any group of people. Among the struggles to be successful, I found it most difficult when personnel were not dependable. I found by experience that I would rather have an employee who was dependable above every other trait. Loyalty is associated with faithfulness and dependability. A person who is reliable in maintaining a consistent pattern of faithfulness is of the highest value. God is the absolute hallmark of dependability. He is faithful to do precisely what He says He will do. Because God is faithful, and we belong to Him by faith, we can live our lives without fear of tomorrow. Our Lord stated we should not be worried about life, as to what we eat or what we drink, or our body what we will put on. Then He said, “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they” (Matt. 6:26)?

If we belong to Him, He will take care of us. I sometimes wonder how to keep going when circumstances become overwhelming, and then by His grace I catch myself and I remember, He has brought me this far and He is faithful. He will take me the rest of the way (Phil. 1:6). The whole issue of being God dependent rather than self-sufficient is based on His faithfulness. “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand” (Ps. 37:23-24). All of life and living is built upon Him who is the Alpha and the Omega, the infinite eternal beginning and never-ending glorious Person of Jesus Christ, who cannot fail. In a world that is full of bad news, trials, and constant disappointments, He is faithful. “Praise His most holy name!