“3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.” ~ Proverbs 3:3-4
The words used in the Bible are written in such a manner to invoke an inner locking oneness to God, in much the same way some words are locked together and used in concert painting beautiful portraits and wonderful spectacles. Love is a root word God uses throughout creation, from it he bound the angels to himself with the word loyalty. God saw that Lucifer had been disloyal and cast him from heaven. Lucifer was disloyal because he saw how much closer God had bound the human race to himself with the word faithful. We are Gods children, his faithful flock, and we too are bound by loyalty. Faithfulness and loyalty are two binding words which ripple throughout all time, but find their roots in the word “love”. Therefore, it’s no accident these words be spoke with such reverence to God, “Let love and faithfulness never leave you.” For God is love, and loyalty and faithfulness is written upon the tablet of your heart.
Enter Job was the apitemy of both loyalty to God and faithfulness to God to the bitter end. God saw the written evidence upon Job’s heart. Thus he had no reservation in suggesting to Satan to test him as found in the first chapters of the Book of Job.
“6 When the day came for the heavenly beings to appear before the Lord, Satan was there among them. 7 The Lord asked him, ‘What have you been doing?’ Satan answered, ‘I have been walking here and there, roaming around the earth.’ ‘8 Did you notice my servant Job?’ the Lord asked. ‘There is no one on earth as faithful and good as he is. He worships me and is careful not to do anything evil.’ ‘9 Satan replied, ‘Would Job worship you if he got nothing out of it? 10 You have always protected him and his family and everything he owns. You bless everything he does, and you have given him enough cattle to fill the whole country. 11 But now suppose you take away everything he has, he will curse you to your face!’ 12 ‘All right’, the Lord said to Satan, ‘everything he has is in your power, but you must not hurt Job himself.’ So Satan left.” ~ Job 1:6-12
According to God, Job was loyal. According to Satan Job was loyal and faithful to God. In accordance Satan exclaimed how much God had blessed Job and it was these many blessings which was the source of Jobs loyalty. Take it all away and he will curse you Satan bet. God swift in his faith in Job knew Jobs heart, saw that tablet of love, faithfulness, and of loyalty written upon his heart and bound around his neck, never to leave him
In the time shortly before King David, Prophet Samuel, another faithful and loyal servant of Gods is told by God to go to Bethleham and to anoint with olive oil one of Jesse’s sons. Saul was still King at this time, thus to follow the very words of God would have proven Samuel disloyal to Saul, but written upon Samuels heart was love, loyalty, and faithfulness to God.
“4 Samuel did what the Lord told him to do and went to Bethleham, where the city leaders came trembling to meet him and asked, ‘Is this a peaceful visit seer?’ 5 ‘Yes’ he answered. ‘I have come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord.” ~ 1 Samuel 16:4-5
When Samuel saw all the sons of Jesse, he did not know what to do, but again he relied on his faith in God to show him his next path, his final acts on Gods behalf.
“7 But the Lord said to him, ‘Pay no attention to how tall and handsome he is. I have rejected him, because I do not judge as people judge. They look at outward appearance, but I look at the heart.” ~ 1 Samuel 16:7
Samuel found great favor in God. It was for this purpose God chose him to speak on hi behalf. God found no favor in King Saul who had disobeyed God, thus God rejected him. David a boy showing great faith in God did the unthinkable, in demonstrating blind faith in God in the face of certain death at the hands of Goliath.
“45 David answered, ‘You are coming against me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the Israelite armies, which you have defied. 46 This very day the Lord will put you in my power; I will defeat you and cut off your head. And I will give the bodies of the Philistine soldiers to the birds and animals to eat. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a God, 47 and everyone here will see that the Lord does not need swords or spears to save his people. He is victorious in battle, and he will put all of you in our power.” ~ 1 Samuel 17:45-47
Again God saw what was written in David’s heart, saw his faith, his loyalty, his obedience which was far superior to that of the Philistine giant Goliath, and far superior to the faith of King Saul himself. The least of things David won that day was the victory over his enemy, the Kingship of all of Israel, and the greatest of things was that of the favor of God.
In these two examples, Job suffered greatly at the hands of Satan, but did not lose his faith, his loyalty, his faithfulness to God, neither did King David have an easy life once he became King, but he too suffered and never lost faith in God. Both men where greatly blessed in their time by God, and in His sight won great favor. These two men where but a small sampling of a larger community of people who had written upon theirs hearts and lived a life filled with love, loyalty, and faithfulness to God, the Almighty.
They as did others like Moses, Isaac, Isaiah, Samuel, Ezra, Ruth, Joshua, Esther, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John where human examples of absolute faith, absolute loyalty to God our father in Heaven. It can also be said they accomplished their mission which God ordained by having the proper attitude, which gave them their collective enthusiasm, freedom from fear, increased creativity, exciting joy which engulfed all that interacted with them, and blessed them with the greatest of potential. Jesus, the Son of God embodied the pure, unblemished love and loyalty to His father unto death. It is the reason their names are etched into history, and serried into our hearts for all time. God our father prizes loyalty, faithfulness, and love above all other qualities and it this which he peers into our heart, ignoring the glamor of the outer appearance, and looks so readily for those words which bid us so closely to him. It is this which He is so moved to show us so much favor, and is so will to give us power over all the evil in our lives.
Amen
May God be with you always, and grant you everlasting peace
If you have been moved by this reflection please feel free to leave a comment and press the “Like” under the “Like This” heading found underneath the posting
Also please visit our Face Book page located at:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003233971458&sk=wal
In addition please visit the newly constructed donations page in order to directly support this blog please DONATE NOW!:
Superb article admin thank you. I found what i was looking for here. I’ll review overall of posts within this evening