2 Timothy 2:13 - Unending Faithfulness!
2 Timothy 2:13 (NLT) If we are unfaithful,
he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he
is.
COMMENTARY PEARL
My first of many sightings of storks took
place in Segovia, Spain. While others gawked at
the Roman aqueduct, I gawked at a muster of
white storks (with black wings and red bills and
legs) tending their hatchlings in huge nests on
the tops of towers and tiled roofs. Four nests
on one tower alone, and as many loving couples
with young. I longed for binoculars.
Storks are reputed to be monogamous (for
a season). Mating pairs return to these high
nests year after year, adding to them until they
weigh over a thousand pounds. How would you like
that nest on your roof?
Storks have a varied diet of frogs, fish,
insects, earthworms, and small birds and mammals.
They are listed among the "unclean" birds in
Scripture, probably because "small birds and mammals"
would include disease-carrying rats and mice.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a personal rodent
exterminator keeping watch from your roof? If storks
lived in California, I'd want to mount a metal
platform above the roof and put up a sign: Stork
Building Site.
Not vastly intelligent, they are still
wiser than most of us. The Lord spoke of the stork
through the prophet Jeremiah: "Even the stork that
flies across the sky knows the time of her
migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the
crane. They all return at the proper time each
year. But not my people! They do not know the
Lord's laws" (Jeremiah 8:7).
Animals instinctively know what they were
created to do, often following patterns of life and
migration that go back scores of generations. Yet we
humans continually forget that we are created for
God's glory. He made us to have a relationship
with Him, yet we turn away from Him again and
again. But just as He was faithful to the
Israelites, loving them and calling them His people even
after they turned to idols, He is faithful to us.
As 2 Timothy tells us, God "cannot deny who he
is" - the faithful One. He will not go against
His nature. Sometimes He shows His love through
discipline to help us see clearly the desperate
situation we're in, but He always calls us back.
When we repent and live in His will, we
become what God created us to be. Like the storks,
we'll be fulfilling our created purpose.
"God is faithful even when his children
are not."
Heavenly Father, You are the faithful
One. You keep on loving us even when we turn away
from You over and over. It would be easy for You
to walk away or even start over with a whole
new creation, but Your love is steadfast. I'm so
grateful that I can count on You, no matter what.
Please help me to respond with faithfulness too. I
don't want to waste my life; I want to live with
the right purpose in mind so that I can be the
person You created me to be. [Earth Psalms by
Francine Rivers]
EXCELLENT VIDEO SERIES ON 28 REVELATIONS OF
JESUS
1st of 28: Divine Dining:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_7j1QIKqmY
2nd of 28: Pictures of the Divine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lNI-OQ7-eQ
3rd of 28: A Dirty Bible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMkPvBuuFd4
4th of 28: Cared For:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztXyJVdcCds
5th of 28: Saved:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX45kGRe1HI
6th of 28: You Can Change:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd0gkvK18fo
7th of 28: Reprogramming Our Brains:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov36f_RapXc
8th of 28 Our Holy Father:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XabXLEXsxbY
9th of 28 Gifts of Service:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtuGZviodkA
Live ongoing series in progress.
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs FGGibbs@abible.com