Faithful God, So Unchanging

When we lived near the coast, we often took our children down to the beautiful local beaches. Sometimes we found find little flints, not much bigger than a coin, which had a hole in them. We wondered how the hole got into such hard stone.

Once, I was going through a time of great personal difficulty. I felt depressed and confused, unable to see how I could get my life back together again. I was attending an Ellel course at Glyndley Manor and, during some free time, went down to the sea-front at Eastbourne. The beach there, when the tide is up, is just large pebbles, so I kept to the tarmac promenade. As I went, I felt God wanted me to go down on to the beach to show me something. I thought, “It’s only pebbles”. But I went. As I did, He seemed to tell me to pick up one particular flint stone. It was big and round, over 15cm long and weighing about 2 kilos – just like all the others. Only when I had it in my hand did I see that it had a hole right through it. I’ve never seen another like it. And as I saw the hole, God said, “There’s no problem so big or so hard that I can’t find a way through”.

He did find a way through, and I can look back and thank Him for His wonderful faithfulness. The stone lives on the window-ledge by the desk in my study and, whenever I look at it, it reminds me of God’s faithfulness. That’s why Aaron put the jar of manna with the ‘testimony’, the tablets of the covenant law – a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness. And that’s why the Israelites sometimes put up stone monuments. He is a covenant-keeping God! Maybe that’s why the Ark of the Covenant was called the Ark of Testimony: the stone tablets and the manna testified – bore witness – to a totally faithful God.

Do you have something like that, to remind you of God’s faithfulness? A picture, perhaps? Or an entry in a journal? Or a friend’s letter? Or even just a pebble off a beach? Memories are fine, but it’s great to have something that is tangible evidence of our loving Father: ‘Even if we are not faithful, He remains faithful; He must be true to Himself’ (2 Timothy 2:13). Faithfulness is woven into His character; He’ll never let you down.

Prayer: Father God, today I want to thank You for Your amazing faithfulness. Thank You for every occasion when You’ve demonstrated it. Thank You that, whatever today might bring, You’ll never let me down. Would You today give me some tangible evidence of Your faithfulness? And, whatever problems might confront me, I trust You to find the way through. Amen.