So, The Lord Is Faithful, Huh?

HE MOST CERTAINLY IS BRO. PERIOD POOH. END OF DISCUSSION (more like the beginning...I'll talk about it all day long bby)!

Lately, I've been reading the early books of the bible in effort to make it all the way through in one go. Right now I'm on Exodus, and soooo much drama has taken place. Honey, I'm talking lying, cheating, adultery, murder, you name it. It's actually laughable how the Lord was patient and loving enough to sit and watch the people living the way they were and still be kind to them, knowing how they'd acted in the past, and how they'd act in the future. But, as you all may know, the Lord is faithful. And if you didn't know, just read the bible. Pick it up at any spot, and you'll see, I guarantee it!

I have so many thoughts while I'm reading the many stories that compose these chapters and books of the early parts in the bible. I've recently read the part where Moses is fighting to get the enslaved Israelites out of the country (Egypt) that has oppressed them. The Lord was faithful in getting them out. They're traveling across the desert and began to ridicule Moses (and the Lord) when they saw the Egyptians had come after them. Nonetheless, the Lord was faithful in making a way (He did this thing where He parted a whole sea or whatever). Moses led the people to a place between the Desert of Elim and Sinai, and they're complaining to the point where they state they would have rather died under oppression in Egypt than be free and starve in the place the Lord had brought them to in that present moment. Again, the Lord was faithful, as He responded to their whining by giving them manna (bread) and quail, literally from the Heavens, along with specific instruction to follow. They disobeyed. But the Lord still kept them, because guess what? He's [say it with me] faithful.

“Through different trials and hardships, that I have gone through in my life, the Lord has come through for all of them and strengthened me and my relationship with him. This is something I just realized last semester!” - Jas

The me that's currently reading the passage is slapping her forehead in disbelief at all the times the Israelites made the SAME mistakes, over and over again. But the Lord was still faithful in coming to their rescue. Every. Single. Time.

Part of me wonders if the people in the desert with Moses looked back at their moments of complaint and did the same thing, realizing how foolish their actions were. If they ever actually realized how good they had it. But the other part of me thinks, am I in any position to be judging? What if I am doing the same thing to the Lord in my current struggles? Do I complain with what He gives me every time He answers my specific prayers. Will I look back on my present situation and slap my forehead too? So many questions, all actively needing answers. Answers I will stop and ask the Lord to reveal to me. The best thing about it is, I know He will show me the answer when I ask.

“By simply being a friend” - Mel

As a recent college grad, fresh off the campus, I'm still searching for a career I can really put my drive behind. And it's been hard. All the applications I've sent out. All the rejections I've received. Even worse, all the crickets that have decided to make their resting place in my inbox. Sometimes, I wish it was just me in this world. That way, I wouldn't have any expectations about what life is supposed to look like, or where I'm supposed to be by whatever age. It's easy to get to complaining about whatever might be going on in our lives when we have so many other people to look at going about such different paths than we are. But then the Lord reminds me how blessed I am (#privelagecheck). My having two temporary jobs while some people have none. The fact that if I were to lose both of those jobs today, that I would still have food to eat, a car to drive, and a place, a bed even, to sleep in. The Lord is literally so faithful that He has made His capacity to care for us a norm. To the point where even when it might not feel like it, He's still there, listening to our cries. Nourishing our bodies and our spirits. And leading us to freedom, step by step, just like He did for His people in Exodus.

While I may get discouraged sometimes amidst all the no's and the "success" (because who really defines success) stories on LinkedIn, IG, and Facebook, I also remember that all it takes is someone to give me one yes. I just need to make sure my first and primary yes, the one that I'm giving, is to the One who knows the beginning and the end. It is for the One who gives and takes away.

As I go through this season, and ultimately every season in my life, I am learning more and more about how to truly rest in the knowledge that the Lord is faithful. To be real with you, it's hard. Sometimes I get so caught up in the motions of life that I forget how incapable I am of doing it on my own. And of how much easier and better it would be if I would just let Him carry all of my yoke. But with each time I forget, another reminder of how consistent He and His reputation is gets tattooed on my heart (not the peel and stick ones either; I'm talkin' needle and ink y'all). With each time I forget, I sink deeper and deeper into His shadow of care. With each time I forget, I remember to share His faithfulness with someone else once my memory is jogged.

“He continues to demonstrate His deep love for me by constantly reaffirming his promises for my life.” - Jess

So, if you do happen to be reading this, and you were skeptical of how GOOD my God is, how constant and reliable He is, I hope you now know. Or are at least intrigued enough to keep seeking this wonderful knowledge.

Some people might fight me on this, but the more I read (both the bible and biblically based literature), the closer I come to the realization that I don't think the Gospel began with Jesus. He is, of course, the focal point/cornerstone of the Good News, don't get me wrong. But I believe it was there all along with the mere existence of God and the trinity. God and His omniscience and omnipresence had to have been building up this gospel since the beginning of time. The existence of, and the access to God has always been good news to us. Jesus, and the Lord's ultimate sacrifice, did however, make the Gospel tangible. Jesus made the Gospel relatable in His humility and humanness. He, and the act of giving up His life so that we could have ours, made it real. God saved us time and time again, and finally, He decided to create His best act of salvation yet: the gift of eternal life. If that's not faithfulness, child, I don't know what is.