By Obinna SMOG Ejianya
“If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” — 2 Timothy 2:13
There are moments in our walk with God when our faith is strong. We pray with confidence, believe without doubting and look towards tomorrow with the assurance that God will do exactly what He has promised.
But there are also seasons when we become weak.
We pray and nothing seems to happen. We wait and the situation appears unchanged. Days become months, and sometimes months become years. The thing we once believed God for with absolute confidence begins to look increasingly impossible.
Questions begin to enter our hearts.
Has God forgotten me?
Did I hear Him correctly?
Will this promise ever come to pass?
And sometimes, without deliberately turning away from God, our faith simply becomes tired.
But here is something we must understand: our changing circumstances do not change God. Our weakness does not weaken Him. Even when our faithfulness fails, His faithfulness remains.
Paul puts it powerfully in 2 Timothy 2:13:
“If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”
God is faithful because He is God.
He does not become faithful because we prayed enough. He does not remain faithful because we behaved perfectly. Faithfulness is part of His very nature.
Circumstances can make a man change his mind. Pressure can make people abandon promises. Fear can make someone walk away from commitments. Human beings can promise something today and discover tomorrow that they no longer have the ability, resources or willingness to fulfil it.
But God is not man.
Numbers 23:19 declares:
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent…”
When God speaks, His Word carries the ability to accomplish what He has spoken.
That is why Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
Everything around us may change, but God remains God.
ABRAHAM: WHEN THE PROMISE LOOKS IMPOSSIBLE
Consider Abraham, whom Scripture presents to us as a great example of faith.
God promised Abraham a son, but the circumstances surrounding that promise became increasingly difficult.
Time was passing. Abraham was getting older. Sarah was getting older. Everything naturally required for the promise to happen appeared to be disappearing.
Imagine receiving a promise from God and then watching your circumstances move in the opposite direction.
That is where many people are today.
You believed God concerning your family, your career, your business, your health, your ministry or something deeply personal. But instead of seeing evidence that the promise is getting closer, everything around you appears to suggest otherwise.
Abraham knew something about that kind of waiting.
Yet Romans 4:20–21 tells us:
“He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”
Abraham’s confidence was ultimately not in Abraham.
It was in the One who made the promise.
And this is where our faith must eventually rest.
Not simply in what God has promised, but in who God is.
WHEN GOD SEEMS SILENT, KEEP TRUSTING
One of the greatest tests of faith is not when God says “No.”
Sometimes, it is when God appears to say nothing at all.
There are seasons when we pray faithfully but receive no immediate answer. We search for signs, yet nothing seems to change. We expect God to open a door, but the door remains closed.
But we must never mistake God’s silence for God’s absence.
The fact that you cannot see God working does not mean that God has stopped working.
Think about Joseph.
There were years between Joseph’s dream and the fulfilment of that dream. Between the promise and the palace came betrayal, slavery, false accusation and prison.
Anyone looking only at Joseph’s circumstances could have concluded that his dream had failed.
But God had not forgotten Joseph.
The prison was not the end of his story.
God was still working.
Sometimes we want God to show us everything He is doing, but faith requires us to trust Him even when we cannot see His hands.
Isaiah 40:31 says:
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles…”
Waiting on God is not wasted time.
Sometimes God is doing His deepest work in seasons when we can see the least.
Habakkuk 2:3 reminds us that though the vision may seem to delay, we should wait for it because at the appointed time it will speak.
So, when God seems silent, keep trusting.
When there is no visible evidence, keep trusting.
When circumstances provide no reassurance, keep trusting.
Your faith must not depend entirely upon what your eyes can presently see.
DON’T LET FEAR SPEAK LOUDER THAN YOUR FAITH
Faith does not mean that we will never experience fear.
The question is: Which voice will we allow to become louder in our hearts?
Fear looks at the size of the problem.
Faith remembers the greatness of God.
Fear says, “What if everything goes wrong?”
Faith asks, “Has God stopped being God?”
Fear says the situation is impossible.
Faith remembers that nothing is impossible with God.
This is why God repeatedly tells His people not to fear. In Isaiah 41:10, He says:
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God…”
Notice that God does not always promise that there will be no difficult situation.
Instead, He promises His presence inside the situation.
That distinction is important.
Faith does not pretend that the storm does not exist. Faith remembers who is with us in the storm.
THE THREE HEBREW MEN: FAITH BEYOND THE OUTCOME
One of the strongest expressions of faith in Scripture came from Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego before King Nebuchadnezzar.
They were facing a burning fiery furnace because they refused to worship the king’s golden image.
Their response in Daniel 3:17–18 reveals something profound:
“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace… But if not… we will not serve thy gods.”
Look carefully at their faith.
They knew God could deliver them.
They believed God was able to deliver them.
But their commitment to God was not conditional upon whether He delivered them in the particular way they expected.
That is mature faith.
Sometimes our faith says, “God, I know You will.”
But there is another dimension of faith that says:
“God, I know You can. And even while I wait, You are still my God.”
Their faith did not create God’s ability. God was already God.
Their faith simply rested upon who He was.
And God showed Himself faithful.
EVEN WHEN OUR FAITH BECOMES WEAK
There is another side of this message that we should not overlook.
What happens when our faith is not like Abraham’s?
What happens when we are not standing courageously like the three Hebrew men?
What happens when we become discouraged, doubtful and spiritually tired?
Does God abandon us?
This is where 2 Timothy 2:13 becomes particularly comforting:
“If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”
This is not an invitation to deliberately live in unbelief or disobedience. Rather, it reveals something extraordinary about God’s character.
His faithfulness does not originate from our perfection.
Our emotions can change.
Our confidence can sometimes become weak.
But God cannot wake up tomorrow and cease to be God.
He cannot deny His own nature.
GOD IS NOT FINISHED WITH YOUR STORY
Sometimes a painful chapter lasts so long that we begin to believe it is the whole story.
It isn’t.
Peter denied Jesus three times.
Imagine Peter’s state of mind afterwards. This was the same man who had boldly declared that he would never deny Christ.
Yet when the pressure came, Peter failed.
But Peter’s failure was not the end of Peter’s story.
After the resurrection, Jesus restored him.
In John 21, Christ did not throw Peter away. He recommissioned him: “Feed my sheep.”
Peter went from the man who denied Christ to one of the central voices of the early Church.
Joseph’s prison was not his final destination.
David’s wilderness was not his final destination.
Peter’s denial was not his final destination.
And whatever difficult chapter you may be experiencing today does not necessarily define how your story will end.
Philippians 1:6 says:
“He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
So never make a permanent conclusion about your life from a temporary chapter.
You may see disappointment.
God may still see purpose.
You may see delay.
God may be preparing something you cannot yet understand.
You may see the end of the road.
God may see a road you have not yet discovered.
God is not finished with your story.
ALL THINGS ARE STILL WORKING TOGETHER
One of the most quoted promises in Scripture is Romans 8:28:
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God…”
Notice that Scripture does not say that all things are good.
Some experiences hurt.
Some losses are painful.
Some disappointments leave wounds.
Some seasons of waiting can test everything we believe.
But God is able to take circumstances that do not look good and weave them into something that ultimately serves His purpose.
Joseph eventually understood this.
His brothers meant evil against him, but God was working through circumstances they could not understand.
This is why we should be careful about judging God’s faithfulness from one moment in our lives.
We are looking at one page.
God sees the entire book.
WHAT ARE YOU STILL WAITING FOR GOD TO DO?
Perhaps you are reading this today and there is something you have been asking God to do.
You prayed about it.
You believed.
You waited.
But somewhere along the journey, your confidence became weak.
Perhaps you no longer pray about it the way you once did because disappointment has gradually replaced expectation.
Maybe you have quietly concluded that it will never happen.
Hear this today:
You may not understand the delay.
You may not understand the silence.
You may not understand why the circumstances appear completely opposite to what you prayed for.
But your inability to understand what God is doing does not mean that God is doing nothing.
Psalm 27:14 says:
“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart…”
And in Hebrews 13:5, God gives us this assurance:
“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
Hold onto that.
Even when your faith becomes weak, God remains faithful.
Even when you cannot see Him, He is present.
Even when you cannot understand Him, He remains God.
Even when circumstances change, His nature does not change.
And even when it appears that nothing is happening, God may still be working everything together for your good.
THIS SUNDAY, TRUST HIM AGAIN
Maybe what God requires from you today is not another complicated religious exercise.
Maybe it is simply to trust Him again.
Pick up that faith you dropped along the journey.
Return to that prayer.
Return to His Word.
Give that burden back to God.
Do not allow fear to have the final word.
Do not allow delay to convince you that God has failed.
And do not allow one difficult chapter to convince you that your story is over.
He is not a man that He should lie.
What He has spoken, He is able to perform.
Heaven and earth may pass away, but His Word will never pass away.
When God seems silent, keep trusting.
When fear comes, keep believing.
When circumstances say otherwise, remember His Word.
When your own faith becomes weak, remember His faithfulness.
For even when we are unfaithful, God remains faithful.
LET US PRAY
Heavenly Father, thank You because Your faithfulness does not change with our circumstances. Forgive us for the times we have allowed fear, disappointment and delay to speak louder than Your Word.
Strengthen those who are tired of waiting. Restore the faith of those who have become discouraged. Remind those passing through difficult seasons that You have neither forgotten nor abandoned them.
Lord, when we cannot see Your hand, help us to trust Your heart. When You seem silent, give us grace to keep waiting. When circumstances appear impossible, remind us that You are still God.
Help us never to make permanent conclusions from temporary situations. Complete every good work You have begun in us, according to Your purpose and Your perfect will.
We put our trust in You again today, knowing that You will never leave us nor forsake us.
For You remain faithful, even when we are unfaithful.
In Jesus Christ’s name.
Amen.
Have a blessed Sunday.
