Psalm 98

“Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!  For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory. The Lord has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” Psalm 98:1-3 (NKJV)

My father has excellent credit.  It is one of his most treasured accomplishments.  His credit is so good that (until recent banking regulations) he would borrow money, yet he never filled out a loan application.  It's true!  When I was a boy, my father bought cars with a personal check written for an amount he did not have in his personal account.  In the memo line of the check, he would write the bank manager's name; when the bank received the check, the manager would extend the money to my father’s account on a 90-day note.  Dad could write checks in faith that the bank would loan him the money and the bank would extend the money, knowing he would repay them within 90 days.  And he always did.  Trust is character over time.  When someone (in Dad’s case, both parties) displays character over time, trust is built.  And trust is maintained, proportional to one’s efforts to remain of trustworthy character.

God can be trusted!  His unchanging character is chronicled throughout the Bible.  That is why the Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)  When we read about God’s faithfulness and eternal, unchanging holy character, our faith in Him grows. Spending time in the Bible, we learn to trust Him more and more.  We have faith in God because He is trustworthy.

But what of us?  Are we trustworthy?  We want to have faith in God, and intellectually, we can agree that there is irrefutable evidence in the Bible that He is worthy of our trust.  But then comes the moment of truth: will we place our faith in Him?  Let me encourage you: there is nothing better you can do with your life than to trust an unknown future to the known God!  We say we trust God, and He graciously says, “Prove it!”  He tests our testimony.

FAITH is not FACT until it is tested.  The convincing evidence of “things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1) is that our hopes are realized to the full extent that we understand and trust God’s Word.  Our faith is strengthened, directly proportional to our willingness to hold on to the end, to the point where we experience His completion of the faithful thing He has called and equipped us to accomplish.

Today’s psalm is an encouragement to hold on to the end!  Only then can the OLD song, “Will we make it if we trust the Lord in the thing He has called us to?” be replaced with the NEW hit, “I can do all things through Messiah, Who strengthens me!” (Philippians 4:13)  When we live faithfully, it encourages others to trust the Lord, as well; and that encouragement extends to all the nations!