We often talk about human unfaithfulness. Novels become bestsellers partly to the extent their plots involve the right amounts of betrayal, infidelity, and intrigue. Why is this? The answer is that human beings are prone to unfaithfulness even though they know it is a vice rather than a virtue. Faithfulness is all around is. Not just in marriages. How often don’t we fail to live up to our friend’s expectations? How often don’t we break our own rules? We disappoint friends, let down colleagues, break promises to our children, etc.. In short, being human is to be unfaithful.
But then God. “God is not a man that he should lie,” tells the Pentateuch us. God is the rock upon which we stand; the secure foundation upon which we build our lives; the shelter against the storm; the shield against the enemy. When we fall, God will catch us and bring us to a safe haven (and heaven when our lives are over). God is the trustworthy and comforting presence who will make our plans succeed and shelter us from the storm. Let’s just face it, where human beings are unfaithful, God is faithful.
The Unfaithful God
Except God isn’t. At least, not at all in the sense described above. In all truth, God’s faithfulness looks so much like unfaithfulness that it becomes harder to describe God as faithful the longer you think about it. Some people are…
