“True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful? Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about Him, “You will be proved right in what you say, and you will win your case in court.””
Romans 3:3-4 NLT
In the previous verse in Romans 3, we read that “the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God“. And we discovered that with such knowledge there comes a great personal responsibility. Paul conceded in his letter that not all Jews had been faithful to the Covenant God had made with them, but he pointed out that just because some Jews didn’t keep their side of the bargain, didn’t mean that God would keep His.
One thing about God is that he is constant. He never changes. He provides us with a stable and far-reaching foundation, unshakeable in a world that is constantly changing around us. There are some things which it is impossible for God to do or be. One thing is that it is impossible for God to change. We read in Malachi 3:6, “I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed“. Another thing God just cannot do is to tell a lie. Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through“? And one thing of benefit to the Jews, no matter how they behaved, was that God was never going to be unfaithful to His Covenant.
Paul quotes from Psalm 51:4, that Davidic Psalm of confession and contrition, “Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just“. David got it. And he knew that God’s judgement was righteous and just, and was coming one day. He kept short accounts with God and so must we. In John 3:17, John recorded what Jesus said about judgement. “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him“. But in the following verses, Jesus said, “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed“.
We pilgrims are children of God. And as such we too have Godly attributes, increasingly important in our Godless days. We stand in the gap between God and those around us, pleading with Him for their forgiveness, because they indeed fail to realise the consequences of turning their backs on the only One who can give them assurance for their future. To those in our families and communities we exemplify God and His ways, His person, His attributes. We stand on the foundations of His Word, strong and secure, unmoved by anything that the world throws at us.
Dear Father God. To You, the immutable and unchangeable One, we give our praise and worship. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 