“If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” 2 Timothy 2:13
This must be one of the most comforting verses in the Bible for the one who knows the heart of God and knows his own heart. It is one of the reasons why Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd. We are prone to wander from the truth back into worldly ways of thinking but the Good Shepherd keeps steering us into ‘green pastures.’
We are told in the Bible that there are two things God cannot do; He cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18) and He cannot “deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). These relate to His Person. In contrast there are passages that tell us that nothing is impossible with God (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 1:37) but these relate to His activity in the world.
The very origin and root of sin is that Satan provoked Adam and Eve to doubt both of these aspects of God’s nature that He cannot do. He cannot lie and He cannot think, speak or act contrary to His Divine Nature. The combination of these two is where the true believer finds their assurance, comfort and peace.
When we read God’s word we are sure that He is not telling lies or trying to hide things from us. We know that he does not speak with hypocrisy and will not set a trap for us. When we have doubts about this it is easy to know who is behind those doubts. Satan has been doing this ever since he spoke with Eve in the Garden of Eden. He is well practiced by now but we have the whole Bible that will expose his lie.
In the Bible we also discover that there are many ways in which we may think that God is not faithful to His word. Again, our sinful hearts have a bias to consider God unfaithful but as we read the Bible and reflect on our own lives we will discover that He is and always has been faithful to who He is. The world does not see it that way but that is because their idea of godly traits is different to the revelation of God in the Bible.
One of the most common of complaints is used in other relationships as well. Essentially it is that if you don’t give me what I want, you don’t love me. This is a form of manipulation and no one should allow themselves to be manipulated in this way. That would not be love at all and it destroys the relationship. God will not be manipulated.
Love is sacrificially giving what the other persons needs. This is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. “For God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Wow! Aren’t we glad that God will always love us in that way?