Great is Thy Faithfulness

I'm done with college and I am at home resting for 9 months from the past 11 years or so of studying! Yes. What a relief.

I thank God for how faithful He has been in the past years, walking by me and leading me on in a journey that has me looking back in awe and wonder. I've grown like never before; I am nearer to what is called 'womanhood' - still a very distant future in my view. I have left things behind which are not of worth in my journey with Christ - old mindsets of the world, goals which do not seek to honour God, plans which crowd God out of the picture. I don't even want to look back at those things in the rearview mirror, because where I find myself now commands no backward-looking nostalgia.

 (view of Ipoh from Kledang Hill, Menglembu)


As with most people when they talk about the close of a long chapter in their lives and wait for the start of a new one, I have pondered on God's faithfulness that knows no end. We can never praise God enough for His being there every step of the way no matter what; and there can be no 'cliche exaggeration' of it, because every attempt to describe His faithfulness is an understatement indeed.

I've read the book of Hosea and I really love how it highlights God's faithfulness to Israel. The presentation of His Faithfulness is relevant to us even today - for God is unchanging.
  • Hosea 11:1, 3-4 "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. ... It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realise it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them."
  • Hosea 11:8 "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused."
  • Hosea 14:4 "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them." 
And for a humanly relatable symbol of His faithfulness:
  • Hosea 3:1-2 "The LORD said to me, 'Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.' So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley." 
  • Hosea paid out of his own possessions to have back his unfaithful wife who had run after other lovers. And that's God with us too - He had His Son pay for our reconciliation to Him, though we've been unfaithful. On a 'micro' level too, God's faithfulness extends to saving us from every pit and weight that seeks to destroy us. 
Throughout my journey growing closer to God and being transformed by the Spirit He has deposited in me, I have done a lot of things that do not please Him. Yet He is faithful, and He loves. And I try my best each and every day, led by His Spirit, to live in a more God-honouring way for Him.

"My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" Psalm 51:17 

Yay :D

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