We often don’t see the good or pleasure of long term faithfulness. That is staying with one thing for a long period of time. For example, take where we live. It is so common to grow dissatisfied with where we are. And so given the oppurtunity one may go place to place and find no rest. Yet there is something to be said of staying in one places and learning its ins and outs, things that one would never find as a nomad. Even some who are not nomadic may never see these things because they are preoccupied with the faults of the environment.
The same can be said for marriage. Left to our devices (without the wisdom of God) men and women would go spouse to spouse. Or never get married—dating partner to dating partner. Never satisfied with what we have. We don’t see the riches of faithfulness. Staying with one person and going incredibly deep into knowing that person. We don’t even know what hidden pleasures lie at the end of such a quest. Rather we would rather have the surface level delights of unfaithfulness.
The Lord is characterized by faithfulness. He chose Israel and remained faithful to them, even though they rejected him for thousands of years. He chose His church and never turns away from them. He never tries to create a new church or anything of the like. He has steadfast love. A love that is not shakeable. He loves truly and sincerly.
We may say how can we love in this way when we live in a sin cursed world? My spouse sins against me, my hometown is full of sin, my employer sins against me—how can I not be discontent. The reality is that Israel sinned greatly against God, ultimately willfully participating in the death of His prophets. Yet God still pursued them, sending them His Son. They recieived the good news of the kingdom of heaven first, before any other nation.
Now this blog is not to say that righteously changing your circumstance is sin. In things where you are free to choose, you are free to choose (where you live, where you work etc.). But it is to act as a reminder for us all that there is a joy in staying with the same things and exploring them deeply, which is a much less popular exploration. The marriage couple can grow in their knowlege of one another and their find wonderful intimacy in their relationship, one cna know his current friends even more deeply—rather than exchanging them. And so on. There is more to become acquainted with in the journey of longterm faithfulness. (More on knowledge in another blog).
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