Do you believe our leaders in Washington D.C. are faithful to the Constitution? Do you believe they are faithful to you? That is nearly a rhetorical question. Is Thomas Jefferson faithful to the Constitution? The answer is no. It is not because of a lack of character, but because he is dead, a lack of longevity. So, if current leaders are unfaithful to the Constitution and the people, it is because of a lack of integrity. Thomas Jefferson does not lack integrity; he lacks life.
So, is God faithful? The psalmist answers in the affirmative in Psalm 89:1, “I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.” That is clearly what the psalm is about. I won’t take time to read all of the places where God’s faithfulness is specified in the following verses, but notice the fact that this extends to all generations. The word faithfulness means “a firmness, a security, a moral fidelity.” There are other words in the psalm that are synonyms of this faithfulness. God is our defense; He is established. He will stand fast; He is a rock. He is forever more; He endures forever.
Then, there is a covenant that is named a few times, the covenant God made with David. So, is God faithful? That is the beginning of the psalm, but what is interesting is that you see what God actually said in verse 19, which says, “Then thou [God] spakest in vision to the holy one.” Then it gives what God said, largely that God had anointed David as king and had made a covenant with him. What God said is found in verse 19. What God did is found in verse 38, “But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.”
Most of the rest of the psalm is about the fact that from the psalmist’s perspective, his finite life and finite vision, he could not see how God had perfectly kept that covenant. There is a contrast between what God said, verse 19, and what God had done, verse 38. The answer is found starting in verse 46, “How long, LORD, wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is… what man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?” He is saying, “We all die. God, please remember that my time is short.”
We have often said, “You are not going to live long enough to make all the mistakes yourself.” We are finite in our capacity to make mistakes and in our capacity to see God’s perfection. The only way you could see God’s complete faithfulness is to be as everlasting as God is.
Verse 52 says, “Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.” Evermore means “to the banishing point, time out of mind.” There is a clear contrast between my time, which is short, and what I see, and God’s timeline, which is evermore and eternal, and what God knows. In short, God’s faithfulness is tied to God’s longevity. Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” He is the eternally existent God of creation. Is Abraham keeping his side of the covenant with God? At least regarding this world, Abraham is dead. Will God keep His covenant with Abraham? Yes! Only an eternal God has the big picture.
God is faithful. Why? First, because He is good. Now, does God always appear to be good? Do we always understand His dealings? Probably not because we are finite. But is God good? There is no good if there is no God. How would you ever define good in some absolute sense if there is no God. Good is only some subjective thing based on our whims, our likes, and our dislikes. It is not based on intrinsic eternal goodness. God is good so God is faithful.
God is eternal. If God were not eternal then He would only be faithful to the extent of his lifetime. But God is neither our elected official right now, nor is He one of our Founding Fathers. God is the eternally-existent faithful God, faithful to Abraham, faithful to the seed of Abraham, and faithful to those who are His people in Christ by the seed of Abraham. He is faithful.
The takeaway is that the only way to reciprocate God’s faithfulness is to pass Him on to the generation that will outlive you. This is not to pass on just a code or body of doctrine or dogma. It is to pass along God Himself. You are not going to live forever and neither will the people who pass you. The closest thing to eternal life on this planet would be your passing an eternal God on to finite people.
“I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever.” Is that true? I suppose so. Is the psalmist doing that right now? I suppose so. Is he doing that right now on this earth in Israel? No. He is doing it in Heaven. “I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.” God’s faithfulness is tied to God’s eternality, and the only way to reciprocate that faithfulness is to pass God on to the generation that will outlive you.