The Arc of Faithfulness
There is a well-known quote by Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” King paraphrased a longer quote from an abolitionist pastor named Theodore Parker with exceptional effect. Allow me to paraphrase MLK: The arc of God’s universe is bent toward faithfulness.
This morning, I was thinking about the faithfulness of God throughout the arc of my life. And along the bend of that arc, it has been at times quite messy. I was not always faithful to him, even after I surrendered my life to him. There are those who believe that God is some form of karma, so that if you live a good life, he will repay you by being faithful to you; however, if you live imperfectly, then you will reap what you’ve sown.
But that is not how God is depicted in the Scriptures. Even when humans sin, he remains faithful. After they had disobeyed him, the Lord clothed Adam and Eve. Though Jacob cheated Esau out of his blessing and often was deceptive with others as well, God still remained faithful to him. David had Uriah murdered after his affair with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. Still, though there were consequences, the Lord continued to remain faithful to him. When Peter denied he knew Jesus, not once, but three times, Jesus forgave him and declared him to be the leader of the Church. All of these were committed to the Lord, but at times their faith was weak and they believed they couldn’t trust God to provide for them, so they took matters into their own hands.
Over the arc of history, God has displayed his faithfulness. In the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy: “. . . if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” (II Timothy 2:13). I can attest to that fact in my own arc of life. When I was unhappily single in my late 30’s, I took matters into my own hands and married a woman who I knew had major emotional issues. I suffered the consequences of my lack of trust in the Lord for many years, but the Lord remained faithful to me. And when she sought a divorce and my world was shaken, he remained faithful. He provided a new ministry position after I was asked to resign, and later a new wife to whom I’ve been married for nearly 18 years.
His faithfulness has been steady through financial challenges, disappointments, and grief. In the past few years, my wife and I have seen the Lord’s faithfulness in his provision for us. Though we had little savings and an IRA sufficient enough perhaps to buy a car (few campus ministries during my decades serving as a campus pastor contributed to the retirement savings of their staff), we are within weeks of moving into a new home without having a mortgage. As Paul so eloquently states, the Lord “. . .is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. . .” (Ephesians 3:20).
I believe if we each look at the arc of our lives, we will see God’s faithfulness along its bend. It may look different across yours than across mine, but I hope, like me, you can declare as Paul did, “. . . to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:21)
© Jim Musser 2023 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.
