Faithful...

God gave me a very interesting word picture last night and read it or not... I am going to share it with you.

Imagine that your husband, whom had never given you reason to doubt his faithfulness or love reveals to you that some of his closest friends have been cheating on their wives and lying to cover for each other. Although he does not agree with their behavior he has allowed it to go on. He has decided to show them grace and wait for them to repent in their own time and now asks you to do the same. He assures you that they will be caught up in their own web and reminds you that he has been faithful to you and so you need not worry about what is going on in their marriages but to focus on him and continue working on strengthening your marriage with him.

Perhaps you would not have any questions at all... but I would. How can I be sure of his fidelity if they are lying to cover for each other? How can he continue to be close to these people if they are behaving this way? Don't birds of a feather flock together? How can I trust him now knowing what kind of people he chooses to associate with and care for? Isn't there a line where giving grace is code for being weak and prepping me for when I find out that he has not been honest with me?

I have had some major disappointments with some of the people that God loves and has a marriage relationship with. They are part of the bride of Christ. These are people who genuinely love the Lord and yet they have cheated and lied to protect each other. They have hurt me deeply and caused me to question my relationship with the Lord. I have asked these questions of Him in the quiet of my heart and suspected Him of all these things and more because of the way they behaved. I have treated Him like I would a human husband in the same situation, full of suspicion and mistrust. There is one BIG problem with this however. He is GOD!!!

It was like I could hear as clearly as someone sitting next to me say

"He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man, that He should change His mind". " The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart". "God is love". "He will never leave me or forsake me". "God is Holy". "His Faithfulness endures from generation to generation" He has proven Himself to be just and true. He is not a man and yet I have treated Him as though it was He who broke trust when it was not. Men and women, who will never need me to forgive them for more than what Christ has forgiven me for, broke trust with me. I cannot hold Him accountable for what they have done. I must leave my worldly wisdom behind and put my faith in Him who is worthy. My mistake was not in trusting; it was placing my trust in people rather than in God. I have held the Lord at arms length and then wondered why I cannot feel the warmth of his embrace. Father forgive me.