Day 4- Bank On Him

Bible Reading: 2 Timothy 2:11-13, 2 Cor 2:17-24

Picture this: Jesus on earth, and you’re both chilling. His birthday is coming up in two months. You and a friend had been planning a surprise for Him. You began to think about how you both would get all His childhood friends from Galilee to turn up. Those ones He used to make wooden toys with. Maybe you can get–

In that moment of planning, Jesus who is sitting across you, His eyes fall on you and instantly, you both knew that He already knew what you were thinking. Shoot.

When Jesus was on earth, people sometimes came to Him with a question on their lips but a different thing in their hearts. Jesus saw right through it, every time.

This man must’ve been impossible to catch off guard!

Is it a birthday surprise? How do you want to surprise Him? Is it a joke? You want to crack a joke with the One who’s already seen the end from the beginning?

Yet, there were two times we found Jesus shocked in scripture. First In Mark 6:6 where we see ‘He [Jesus] was amazed at their lack of faith’.
Then the second time came in Matthew 8;10 which says, “When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” “

Do you notice the bottom line connecting both times?

Faith. Either the absence of it or the quality of it in God thereof.
Maybe sometimes you’re amazed like Jesus too. But yours comes as you flip through the crisp pages of your bible reading the stories of people past, and you wonder, “How many chances would God give these people, sef? How long would it take for them to have faith in God? To just believe?
If I was God (thank God you aren’t), I would have just killed all of them!” Why did God bother with humanity then? Why does He bother now?

From our reading today, Paul answers these questions in one line that pretty much summarises the story of God and humanity:

If we are faithless, He remains faithful [true to His word and His righteous character], for He cannot deny Himself.
2 Timothy 2:13 AMP

We trace a line through the scripture, From Adam and Eve who trusted in something else over God (Gen 1-3) to Abraham who tried to fulfil the promise God gave Him his own way (Genesis 16), to the Israelites who believed other things were more enough than God (The entire Old Testament) to David who kept falling (2 Samuel) and now to you. You who have shortcomings yet have experienced the mercies of God. God isn’t caught off guard. He’s been dealing with our kind for thousands of years

He is still God despite our actions or inactions, sinfulness or inconsistencies for He cannot deny Himself.

Listen to Romans 3:3-4 says;
But what if some Jews have been unfaithful? Does the fact that they abandoned their faith zero
out God’s faithfulness? Absolutely not! If every person on the planet were a liar and thief, God would still be true. [Voice]

What does this mean? It means we can Bank on Him. God cannot compromise on, or bring low the truth of who He is to match our double-mindedness. He will not be less Just to embrace Sin. He will not let His Word fall to the ground because of one person’s disobedience. He can raise up stones if He must to prosper His good and perfect purpose.

The revelation of God’s faithfulness must always be larger than our understanding of our faithlessness. Similarly, A revelation of God’s faithfulness is never an all-access card to sin or an excuse to live out a wayward life as we please. But rather, an empowerment, an even bigger reason to lean into Him to sustain us–for because of His faithfulness, He is able to keep us from falling (Jude 1:24).

Imagine having no money and declaring a ‘state of brokeness’ but you’ve already been told that there’s an account stashed with money waiting for you to withdraw from it.
This is exactly how it is when we claim humanity as a reason for our faithlessness and choose not to respond rightly to the revelation of God’s faithfulness.

Our response to this revelation then must be to come boldly before His throne to seek His help, as Hebrews 4:16 says, “There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” So, as we go before Him we must remember Hebrews 11:6 NKJV too:
“For he who comes to God must believe that He is…”
That He is what?
He is God
He is Able.
He is Good.
He is Faithful to fulfilling His promises.
He is faithful to prosper His purpose.
He is trustworthy to bring everything He has started to completion.

He is who He says He is. For He cannot deny Himself.

Something to Pray About:
Pray for a revelation of God as faithful and true, and a heart that continually leans in surrender and to trust who He says.

Eme Agbor
Eme volunteers with the Bible Engagement team at Sycamore