God’s faithfulness must be your conviction.
Psalm 91:4 (esv)
“His faithfulness is a shield and buckler.”
You will be unshakeable in your confidence in God’s protection when you are immovable in your conviction that God is faithful to his words and faithful to you.
Examples of faithfulness
A compass is faithful and true when the arrow correctly points north.
A plumbline is faithful and true when it correctly displays a vertical line.
A solar and lunar calendar is faithful and true when it correctly predicts the times of the rising and setting of the moon and sun.
A friend is faithful and true when she shops at the grocery and brings food to the home of her sick friend.
A husband is faithful and true when he remains sexually pure and keeps himself only for his wife all their married lives.
A company is faithful and true when it keeps its product guarantees.
A woman is faithful and true when she keeps her promises exactly as she stated them.
A man is faithful and true when he fulfills his vows to God.
John, the writer of the Book of Revelation, describes Jesus, at his return at the end of the age, in this way: “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True” (Revelation 19:11).
Jesus has many names, and one of them is “Faithful and True.”
God’s faithfulness
God is perfectly faithful to his words. He is perfectly faithful to his promises. He is perfectly faithful to his righteousness and justice. Perfectly faithful to his people and covenants. Perfectly faithful to truth. For he is the Truth, and he cannot deny himself. He cannot lie.
Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
Until heaven and earth do pass away, as surely as day follows night, as surely as morning comes day after day, as surely as the sun rises and sets even though obscured by clouds, so it is certain that God is faithful.
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22–23).
The shield and buckler of faithfulness
Psalm 91:4 says your confidence in God’s faithfulness is like the large shield that a soldier carries into battle and like the buckler, which was a small shield the size of a frisbee used in hand-to-hand combat. With shield and buckler a soldier suffers no harm from a hail of incoming arrows or stones, or the thrust of a spear, or the stroke of a sword.
When you are convinced of God’s faithfulness, the sharp, swift arrows of fear cannot sink into your mind. Rebuffed by your certainty that the Lord is faithful and true, the arrows of fear fall to the ground.
When fear tries to take hold of your thoughts, it is time to meditate on the sure faithfulness of God. Meditate on the promises of his faithfulness as long as you need to until once again the conviction that God is faithful and true guard your heart like a shield and buckler.
You then rebuff those fears as easily as you hang up the phone on an unwelcome telemarketer.
Scriptures for meditation on God’s faithfulness
Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”
Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
Psalm 89:33–35 says, “I will not remove from [King David] my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David.”
Psalm 100:5 says, “The LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”
Psalm 119:75 says, “I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”
Psalm 143:1 says, “Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!”
Isaiah 11:5 says, “[5] Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”
Isaiah 25:1 says, “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.”
Isaiah 49:7 says, “Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: ‘Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’”
Lamentations 3:22–23 says, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Matthew 24:35 says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
1 Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
2 Corinthians 1:18 says, “As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 says, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, “The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.”
2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.”
Titus 1:2 says Paul wrote to his fellow worker Titus “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”
Hebrews 2:17 says, “He had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
Hebrews 6:18 says, “It is impossible for God to lie.”
Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 11:11 says, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.”
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Revelation 19:11 says, “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True.”
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)