The world is filled with this interdependence, most of which we never think about until it breaks down. If a clerk calls in sick and no one can fill in, I stand in line at the checkout. If a delivery truck breaks down, I need to drive a little farther to fill my car with gas. If a piece of paper slides unnoticed under a desk, I will get another bill for something I’d already paid.
The work that I do depends heavily on the work that others do, but not so with God. When He says He will do something, who can thwart His plans? When He makes a covenant, even with people who will fail to keep their end of it, the covenant is kept.
For instance, God made a covenant with David. This is found in 2 Samuel 7:12-16:
When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.Part of the covenant was conditional, at least for some generations. Many in the line of David and heirs to his throne disobeyed God and never sat on it. However, God says in Psalm 89:30-37:
If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, if they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: his seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky.What does all this have to do with me? Well, for one thing, God made many promises that I can claim. Some of them start with, “If you obey me, I will. . . .” Yet others begin with a simple, “I will. . . .” God’s promises ask for my cooperation, yet I know my own heart. Sometimes, no matter how I try, I mess up.
There are some who think that if they mess up, God will turn His back on them, particularly in His covenant of redemption. In other words, they think that their salvation starts by faith, but if they don’t diligently perform, they will lose it. Like the Galatians, they “begin in the Spirit” and then try to “be made perfect by the flesh” (Galatians 3:3).
Paul called this notion foolishness. He knew that the covenant of salvation, unlike some of the other covenants, is totally unconditional. We do not deserve it; we could not earn it; we cannot make it happen. God is its author and finisher. He works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13), and even when we sin, the blood of Christ covers our sin and Christ Himself stands at the right hand of God to intercede for us (1 John 2:1; Hebrews 7:25).
However, I’m far from being a passive recipient. God puts His Spirit in me and my heart is infused with this magnificent desire to please Him. Through trial and error, I’ve learned that apart from Him, I’m totally useless to make godliness happen, but with Him, I can do all things.
I’ve also learned that when I resist, like the generations of David, He will punish my transgressions, yet His faithfulness and lovingkindness never departs from me. God is doing His part regardless of my failure to do my part. While I need to obey Him, His redemptive to-do list does not totally depend on me.
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