You know that sinking feeling you get when something you’re counting on falls apart? Maybe a friend who disappeared when you needed them most, or a promise that wasn’t kept. Sadly, we get used to it after a while. We learn not to get our hopes up too high because people let us down all the time. But what if there was one solid thing in your life that you could always count on?
Deuteronomy 7:9 tells us this about God: “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.” (NIV)
The word translated “faithful” is emunah (אֱמוּנָה), pronounced eh-moo-NAH. It comes from the root word amen (אמן), the same word we say at the end of our prayers. When you say “amen,” you’re saying, “This is trustworthy. This is true.” That’s what emunah means. It’s the quality of being completely, totally reliable.
Think about the most dependable person in your life. Maybe it’s your best friend who picks up the phone when you call at 2 a.m., or that one family member who always keeps their word. That trustworthiness is emunah. And God says, “That’s who I am, but even more so.”
The Israelites heard these words just before entering the Promised Land, standing at the edge of the unknown. They had no idea what the future held, but they knew that their God was emunah. He would always be there for them. And he was, every single time.
We live in a world where almost nothing feels reliable. Plans change, people let us down, jobs disappear, health fails, relationships crumble. We’ve all learned to constantly adjust to disappointment, to expect less so we’ll hurt less when things fall apart.
But right in the middle of all that uncertainty, God shows up and says, “I am the faithful God.”
God’s faithfulness doesn’t depend on your circumstances. His emunah is constant whether you’re having the best day of your life or the worst. Whether your faith feels rock-solid or you’re barely hanging on by a thread. Whether you’re walking closely with him or you’ve wandered away. God’s faithfulness isn’t a response to your faithfulness. It’s just who he is at his very core.
And notice that God keeps his covenant of love “to a thousand generations.” This isn’t just about you and God. This is about a faithfulness so deep and lasting that it will continue for countless generations to come.
The God who was faithful to your grandparents’ grandparents is the same God who is there for you today. His track record is absolutely perfect. His emunah has sustained his people through every crisis, every heartbreak, every moment of despair. Which means that you can count on him. He’s faithful.
That’s emunah. That’s the God who will always, always be there for you.
Prayer: Father, thank you for being the faithful God whose emunah never wavers, even when everything around us shifts and fails. Help us to trust that you will always be there for us in our lives just as you have been for every generation before us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Alan Smith
Reprinted with permission from Alan Smith’s Thought For the Day
