But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.
2 Timothy 4:17 (ESV)
The apostle Paul wrote these words to Timothy, his son in the faith. He was referencing an event in which all of his friends deserted him – nobody came to his aid when he was being persecuted. Paul couldn’t rely completely on the faithfulness of his fellow Christians. When things got too dangerous, they fled away from him, frightened of the physical harm that might come to them on account of the Gospel.
Our friends and siblings in the Faith will definitely help us through the tough times in our lives. We will have to rely on their help when we face trouble in our lives. But they are still sinful human beings – they are prone to turning their backs on us when they are placed in harm’s way.
God, however, is faithful in all circumstances. Even when we are faithless towards God, He remains faithful to us. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2:13 – “If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” God has promised countless times in the Bible to remain faithful to His people, and He remains faithful to us through the work of the person Jesus Christ and our faith created by the Holy Spirit. God is faithful on account of what Jesus did for us, not because of anything we have done. If God was not faithful and merciful to all Christians, He would be denying the redemptive value of Christ’s atonement. Therefore, God must always remain faithful. To do otherwise would go against the very nature of who He is. When the LORD spoke through the prophet Malachi, He made this statement of faithfulness – “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6) He had mercy on the nation of Israel because He had made a promise to them – the promise that He would send the Messiah.
Back to the story of Paul – God showed His faithfulness to Paul by strengthening him and allowing him to escape from the danger surrounding him. Even more importantly, in the grand scheme of things, He rescued Paul for the sake of the Gospel. If Paul had died then and there, we wouldn’t have most of the New Testament. God preserved Paul so that we could hear the complete Word of God.
Eventually, God allowed Paul to die a gruesome death on account of his faithful proclamation of the Gospel. Does this made God unfaithful? Of course not. In reality, our death and departure from this sinful world is the point when we will fully taste the ultimate act of God’s faithfulness. God has conquered death, our greatest enemy, and transformed it into a gateway to eternal life through the death of Jesus. The end of our sinful worldly lives is also the beginning of our eternal reign with Christ.
Of course, God does clothe, feed, and provide for Christians in their temporal lives. He does this only out of His mercy and love. However, our lives in this sinful world will still be filled with sorrow and suffering. Jesus’ words to His disciples also ring true for us (though maybe not to the same extent) – “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name.” (Luke 21:16-17) It is in these times when we can look towards the ultimate act of God’s faithfulness – our redemption through the atonement of Christ. We should not expect our earthly lives to be blissful and enjoyable the whole way through – God’s blessing through Jesus comes to its fruition not in this world, but in the next. Jesus didn’t suffer for our ability to live prosperous and wealthy lives. (Looking at you, Joel Osteen.) Rather, He gives us the ultimate gift of wealth on account of Christ. We spend our entirely earthly lives focusing our eyes on the cross, running the race of faith, whose finish line is everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
2 Timothy 4:7 (ESV)
Veritas Manet 