God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to act?
Has he ever promised and not carried it through? (Numbers 23:19 NLT)
As Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers 23 points out, God is not human, so his promises never fail. Psalm 36:5 tells us, “Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.” As with all virtues known to man, God’s example of faithfulness is far beyond our own. After all, God in heaven is perfect.
Even though God is not human, Jesus is. As the Nicene Creed states, Jesus is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one Being with the Father,” and “he became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made man.” Jesus is fully God and also fully man. As such, his faithfulness “reaches beyond the clouds,” but he also “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus is perfect.
The third person of the Trinity also exhibits inhuman faithfulness. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you” (John 14:16). One of the key aspects of faithfulness is constancy. If a man is faithful to his wife on every day except Thursdays, he is not faithful at all. The promise of the Holy Spirit is that he will never leave us. In this way, and more, the Spirit, too, is perfect.
Yet, in the midst of all this perfect faithfulness, we, the children of God, are imperfect. God’s faithfulness rings out here, as well. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God has promised us any temptations that test us will not be more than we can bear. We will certainly fail and fall prey to the temptations of this world, for we are human and our promises of fidelity to God are only as reliable as we are. Even still, God is faithful.
Ask God to remind you of where you have broken promises to him, not so that you might feel guilty but so that you might repent and seek his guidance on how to prevent future failings in faithfulness.