“…for He who promised is faithful...” – Hebrews 11:23
When hard times hit our lives, we find out a lot about ourselves and what we really believe and how deeply we believe it. And yet in the middle of it all, in the middle of our wavering and our questioning, God is still good, still faithful, still trustworthy. But just what does it mean to be trustworthy? Dictionary.com defines trustworthy as “deserving of trust or confidence; dependable; reliable.” 1 Webster’s New World Dictionary defines trust as “firm belief or confidence in the honesty, integrity, reliability, justice, etc. of another person or thing; faith; reliance; confident expectation, anticipation, or hope.” 2 So if we amalgamate these definitions, we come up with a firm belief, a reliance upon, a confidence, an expectation, an anticipation, and a hope upon the honesty, integrity, reliability, and justice of another (in our case God)….in short, to have faith in Him. And what better to have firm belief, reliance, confidence, expectation, and anticipation in than in God? NOTHING!
Yet at times we have our doubts. Does God really care? Is He really there? Is He really good? Yes, He does care; He is there; and He is good. Often these doubts come to us when life is not going quite as we expected it would. Now we can still take inventory even if we are not in difficult times. This will help us be more secure should those difficult times come and they will come. However, God will use them to shape our character, but wouldn’t it be better if we could shape our character even during the good times? Take a few moments and honestly ask these questions and be candid with yourself (or your spouse) about the answers. Do I see God as my provider or do I look to my job as my stream of provision? Do I see God as my safety and comfort or do I find more rest and relaxation on the couch or at the gym or on a hike? Do I find more peace in my bank account or in the presence of God? Do I find more identity in God or in what I do for a living? What about others, do I see them as vessels God is working in and on or do I draw conclusions based on what they do? (Hint: next time you meet someone new watch to see if you ask what they do for a living or what the living God is doing in them.) How do I respond to godly correction? Do I react and make excuse or do I step back and look for the truth in what is being shared? Why all the questions—simply to make the point that we need to understand the trustworthiness of God. When we don’t understand His trustworthiness then we tend to find provision in our job, security in our home, peace in our bank account, rest on the couch, discipline, well we pretty much just run from that…
I was surprised to find that a search for the word trustworthy in the King James Version provided no search results when the New American Standard had eleven and the New International Version had twenty-five, thirteen of which were in the New Testament.3
Naturally, I became curious as to why this was and found it comes down to the translation of the Greek word transliterated “Pistos.” It turns out this word is also translated as “believe 2x, believer(s) 9x, believing 1x, faithful 44x, faithful one 1x, faithfully 1x, sure 1x, trustworthy 1x, who believe 1x.4 So, mostly, the word trustworthy is normally translated as “faithful.” Now this was getting good because we know that God is faithful. Faithfulness is one of the fruits of the Spirit (who is God). I looked up the word for faithfulness in Galatians 5:22 and found it is derived from the same Greek root as Pistos. Faithfulness (Greek Pistis) is the common word for faith and “conveys the idea of a person who is faithful, reliable, loyal, and steadfast. It pictures a person who is devoted, trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, constant and unwavering.”5
Let’s look at a few of these passages with Pistos in them and think about inserting trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, and unwavering.
1 Thess 5:23-24 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful [trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, and unwavering] and he will do it.
2 Tim 2:13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful [trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, and unwavering], for he cannot disown himself
1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful [trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, and unwavering]; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful [trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, and unwavering] and just and will forgive our sins an purify us from all unrighteousness
1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful [trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, and unwavering] Creator and continue to do good.
Notice that it is God working in us to accomplish His will. No matter what He with be faithful, dependable, dedicated, and unwavering. He we help us through resisting temptation. He will perfectly dependably forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Even in the middle of our suffering, we can trust His worthiness and continue to do good. He will be our provision. He will be our security. He will be our shelter. He will be our dwelling place. He will be our peace. He will bring us rest. He will discipline us when need be. He will love us always. Our job is to trust in His trustworthiness—to have faith in His faithfulness—to eagerly expect—to confidently rely upon—to await with anticipation—to hope with assurance—to believe with bold trust.
Heb 10:23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful [trustworthy, dependable, dedicated, and unwavering].
Oh good and gracious Father, help us in our times of need and especially times of plenty, to look to you and remember you are trustworthy. Help us to depend on you and not our jobs, homes, and things we possess for identity, safety, comfort, and provision. Help us to understand your trustworthiness. We choose to trust in your faithfulness—to put our confidence and expectation, our reliance and dependence on you. Be our peace. Be our dwelling place. Be our identity. Be our shelter. Be our good shepherd. Be our Father. We rest in your trustworthiness. We find peace in your faithfulness. WE TRUST YOU. Amen!
Footnotes
1 "trustworthy." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 13 Jan. 2011. <Dictionary.com\ http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trustworthy>.
2 Neufeldt, Victoria, and David Bernard Guralnik. "Trust." Webster's New World Dictionary of American English. Cleveland: Webster's New World, 1988. 1436. Print.
3 http://www.biblestudytools.com/search/?q=trustworthy&c=nt&t=niv&ps=10&s=Bibles
4 http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/pistos.html
5 Renner, Rick. "Goodness and Faith." Sparkling Gems from the Greek: 365 Greek Word Studies for Every Day of the Year to Sharpen Your Understanding of God's Word. Tulsa, OK: Teach All Nations, 2003. 537. Print.
References
All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.
