Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Faithfulness has to be demonstrated in order to be believed. I believe because I see it.

2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

God has demonstrated that His Word is true. He has kept His promises. We utter Amen as a demonstration of our agreement with God in all His promises, even if we have not yet seen them come to pass in our lives yet.

Once again we find ourselves depending on His Word being inspired by God as a true record of His communicating with His creation. What has changed about reading and believing?

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

God gave us His Word. He gave us His Son. In order to discover the faith that unlocks the mystery that is Christ, we must access the hearing of the Word that is Christ. We accomplish this by accepting the gift that was given, the Son.

We have been over this before, it is nothing new. So why is faithfulness the subject of this article?

Romans 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

He wants us to be faithful as His Son is faithful. So what is keeping us from being faithful as His Son is faithful? Free will. Ouch!

Romans 7:15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

This is Paul’s confession. Sound familiar? Let me remind everyone that this did not stop God from using Paul to be the architect of His church. Paul’s contributions to the New Testament overshadow the number of passages by Luke, Peter and John. That was no accident.

Luke was a doctor, Peter and John were fishermen. Paul was a zealous student of the law.

Hosea 1 English Standard Version

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Hosea’s Wife and Children

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5 And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Why would You make your prophet marry a whore?

Hosea 2:16-20 English Standard Version

16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

And the Lord said, “To prove my faithfulness.”