Can God be trusted?

Romans 11

Verse four ‘I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal’

Verse twenty nine ‘For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable’

You may be forgiven for thinking that the passage that we have given you to read today, Romans 11, does not at first sight make you think about the fact that God is faithful. However the more you read through the passage and think about what is written you begin to see this principle.

Throughout Romans chapter 11 God is speaking to his people and explaining how over the centuries of time he has organized the preservation of his people. There are points where individuals such as Elijah say that everything has gone awry and nothing is going right but then God intervenes and says 'I have reserved for myself 7000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal'. God is faithfully preserving his people even in times when the majority of his people turned away from him..

Verse twenty nine states that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. Really the Lord is stating here that when God provides gifts to his people and calls his people to himself then he will not go back on his word. The passage is emphasizing the faithfulness of God to do what he wants to do, to do it for his pleasure and glory, to never go back on his word but to bring his purposes to their ultimate conclusion.

The passage ends with a lovely statement that some people would call a doxology. 'For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever. Amen'.

All the things that happen find their origin in God. God uses the Lord Jesus Christ as the channel through which the purposes of God are fulfilled. Ultimately all things are for the glory of God and to his eternal pleasure. God is faithful and we can trust him because he will bring his purposes to their fulfillment and that includes fulfilling all the promises that are made to you and me