Faithful Father,
Because You are faithful, I can walk through this trial, even if You choose not to remove it on earth. Your promises hold me when my emotions and thoughts spiral. Suffering can bring such temptation to doubt Your love or to fall into sinful self-pity and bitterness toward You. Suffering zooms “me” into the center of my thoughts.
I easily forget You are my faithful and loving Father. But…
Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face;
here would I touch and handle things unseen,
here grasp with firmer hand th’eternal grace,
and all my weariness upon thee lean.
(“Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face,” Bonar, H., 1855)
Here, O my Lord, great is Thy faithfulness
In Your faithfulness that took Jesus all the way to the cross for me, You are “faithful and just” to forgive my sins and purify me from my unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:9). Thank You, Lord, that You’ve given me so many promises of Your faithfulness.
You promise that You won’t let me be tempted beyond what I can bear and that You always provide a way out of temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). Your true, living, and active Word carries me…Your feast of daily manna as You commune with me…
Here would I feed upon the bread of God,
here drink with thee the royal wine of heav’n…
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Tim. 6:12 ESV).
here would I lay aside each earthly load,
here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiv’n.
Promises of our faithful Father
So many of Your promises jump to my heart from Isaiah, written to Your sin-full and beloved people. Here, O my Lord, I see Your heart.
“Even to your old age I am he; and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Is. 46:4 ESV).
“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength“ (Is. 40:29 ESV).
“For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not. I am the one who helps you’” (Is. 41:13 ESV).
I have no help but thine, nor do I need
another arm save thine to lean upon…
In Your promises, I see Your faithfulness. I see that You alone are the source of my faith, my strength to endure trials. I am not at the center at all.
You are.
it is enough, my Lord, enough indeed;
my strength is in thy might, thy might alone.
Our faithful Father’s gift of faith in Jesus
Any faith I have, even the tiniest mustard seed-sized bit (Lk. 17:6), on the most challenging days, is entirely a gift from You. It’s all from You. From beginning to end. Your promised inheritance, Your promised salvation, and Your promised faith rest on Your grace, so it’s guaranteed.
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (Rom. 4:16 ESV).
So, help me to hold fast to my gospel hope without wavering. Give me that faith hourly as I seek Your strength in this ongoing suffering.
Because, by Your grace, clinging to Your Word and the confession of this hope in Christ, You who promised are faithful (Heb. 10:23). Here, O Lord, I see Thee face to face…at the cross, looking to Jesus.
Mine is the sin, but thine the righteousness;
mine is the guilt, but thine the cleansing blood;
here is my robe, my refuge, and my peace,
thy blood, thy righteousness, O Lord my God.
As I suffer here, O my Lord! I see You as I sing Your faithfulness
As I bring You my pain, as I lament to You with tears and fears, I can sing of Your promise to be faithful to me…until the glorious day I feast and sing with You face to face, seeing eternal and unseen things.
No matter what happens today, help me to sing:
Oh, faithful Father, Son, Holy Spirit, my Lord, thank You! In my Savior’s precious name, amen.
Material adapted from Praying God’s Promises Into Suffering: A Devotional Bible Study Prayer Journal, Lauri A. Hogle, © 2023
A playlist to sing to our faithful Lord into our suffering
This week’s playlist gift is called, “Promises of our faithful Father, as we suffer.” I need to sing promises of God’s Word back to Him as He fills my mind with His internalized Scriptural truth, especially when I’m living with continually scary neurological symptoms and severe pain, and can’t read or even listen to music. I need His Word tucked away, and music helps memorization!
What a faithful, merciful, compassionate God to give His beloved children in Christ such great and precious promises set to music. They give us hope to endure this suffering! They help us to praise Him into our lament and requests.
If you’d like the playlist I’m using in this difficult week, to help you as you suffer too, sign up here, and it will come to your email from this sister in Christ who understands. Or perhaps other resources below will help?
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