Dependable God

Can people rely on you? Do they have a reason to trust your word? Are you a dependable person? Dependable means capable of being depended on, worthy of trust, and reliable. The operational definition of dependability is fulfilling what you consented to do, even if it means unexpected sacrifice. Dependable people do what they say they will do, even when it is difficult. Dependability comes from two Latin words: De, meaning, down or from, and Pendere, to hang. A dependable person consistently fulfills his mission so that others are unhindered and the goal accomplished.

The God proclaimed throughout the bible is a God we can always count on. In biblical times, the Jews felt that God competed with the purported God of other nations. Thus, when things went well for Israel and battles were won, it vindicated God in their eyes. They believed they could depend on God to do this. It is true today that as long as we triumph and we are prosperous, then God is dependable. What happens then when our world seems to collapse? Can we depend on God? In the bible, books like Psalms, Job, Lamentations, and others seem to question the dependability of God.

God is dependable. It might not be in ways we anticipate or fully comprehend, but he is unfailing. Psalm 7:1, “I am depending on you, O Lord my God, to save me from my persecutors.” We can always call upon the Lord in our time of need. God is consistent, loving, compassionate, and understands our needs. And it is why we can always depend on him. One man who stands out as a model of dependability is Boaz. In Ruth 3:13, Ruth asks Boaz to be her kinsman-redeemer, and he agrees to take on that responsibility. Therefore, he becomes a dependable ally to Ruth and Naomi. A reliable God always keeps to his word, for his word is true. God is not a man that should lie, nor the son of man to change his mind. What he says he will do in his word, he will do it. We then see a dependable God. Abraham Lincoln, the 16^th president of the USA, once implored nations to depend on God when he said: “And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God. And to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is Lord.”

Dependable people don’t lie. God does not lie. Genesis 21:1-2, “And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken, for Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time which God had spoken to him.” It does not matter how things may look around us. God will bring to pass all that he has promised. Isaiah 55:11, “His words will not return to him Void.” Paul and Silas depended on God, and He never failed them. A requirement for relying on God is patience. We trust that God will do it promptly, as he says he will.

God is dependable because of his track record of faithfulness and success; he has no evidence of failure. There is nothing he has ever said that failed; that has either happened or is about to happen. When we depend on the dependable God, we are blessed, safe, protected, saved, have all that we need, and prosper and thrive. He has all it takes to keep his promises so we can trust and depend on him for our today, tomorrow, and eternity. Lord, help us unwaveringly put our trust in you so that we may rest on you, our dependable God. Amen