The Faith-fulness of God

It is incredibly difficult to get good pics of kids that never stop moving :) Rina has had an absolute blast with all her cousins - both sides of the family. And it's fun watching Micah begin to be able to interact more. He may not always play but he loves to be near/with them and will just laugh at the antics.

Yesterday Rina told me that she does not want Kylie to leave! But as she realized it was inevitable she began to say she wanted to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house to see Eben, Aliza, and Nora :( Yuck, yuck, yuck. I hate goodbyes. I am so thankful that one day there will be no more goodbyes!!! Otherwise we're all growing well :) It's amazing how in the last 3 weeks I've popped :) Makes the new little one seem a bit more real...

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Today in the Christian Church we tend to separate the words "faith" and "faithful" and make them mean two different things. Faith is something I have whereas faithful tends to lean more towards how I live, what I do in the long run. But in the Bible it's the same Hebrew word. "Emunah" Anytime you see faith or faithful in the OT it's the word "Emunah."

To really understand "emunah" you have to put those two different meanings together - faith/faith-ful. The word "emunah" carries with it the idea of "perseverance or steadfastness." There's a story in the Bible that gives a great picture of this. Ex 17 - the Israelites were fighting the Amalekites and God decreed that with this battle as long as Moses' hands were in the air God would give the victory to Israel, but when his arms grew tired and came down the Amalekites would begin to win. So Aaron an Hur came over and held up Moses' hands until the battle was done and Israel had won. Vs 12 states this "and his (Moses) hands remained STEADY (emunah) until sunset."

Picture old hands being held up strong and steady as the sun rises and falls in the sky. Moses must have been tired - the story acknowledges that he was. They brought a rock over for him to sit on and two men came to help him, yet his hands stayed up the whole day. They were emunah - steadfast, perserved, faith-ful.

This has many implications for believers but right now I want to focus on God. Deut 7:9 states that Yhwh has emunah - that He is a faith-ful God. He is steadfast with us, He perseveres with us. 2 Tim 2 states that even if we are "faith-less" He will be "faith-ful" bc He cannot deny Himself. Part of the very essence of who and what God is is faith-fulness. What He has begun He will finish; what He started in you will be completed. What He promised He will do. He is full of emunah.

May we take heart and be encouraged. The God who has declared us as His Bride will come and take us to His side. What He has begun will be finished bc He is a God that is emunah - faith-ful.