When God calls, He stays faithful

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that God’s grace is bigger than your mistake. You might even believe it, but after repeated mistakes, unanswered prayers, or seasons of weakness, you begin to wonder whether God has withdrawn His hand from your life. The question you might ponder on is have I blown it?” Is God still near? Does He still love me? Does He still care? Does He still want to hear me? Does He still want to bless me? Does He still want to use me, and do I still have my gifts and calling? Let’s look at a verse in the book of Romans and see what the apostle Paul has to say about God’s faithfulness.

The Bible tells us in Romans 11:29 that “For the gifts and the calling of god are irrevocable.” What we need to focus on in this verse is His faithfulness towards His children, and that it is not based on human perfection. God is not like humans, whose promises might be attached to emotions, fragile, or perhaps temporary. When God gives and calls, He remains committed to.

A few weeks ago, on Mother’s Day, we talked about the importance of honouring our mothers and noted that our culture has lost sight of honour and the importance of honouring our father, mother and elders. In the same way, in our culture, we see how commitments are easily broken and how people easily walk away from marriages, friendships, churches, and responsibilities. Because of human inconsistency, many people knowingly and unknowingly think that God is also inconsistent and even maybe flaky.  I want to tell you, or even remind you, that God is not like man.

1. God’s grace covers our failure

One of the things that I love about the Bible is that God didn’t hide the flaws of man. He revealed them to us, and He also revealed His grace and faithfulness at work through their flaws and shortcomings. To name some of them:

Abraham: Lied out of fear, but God called him
• The father of faith
• The father of many nations
• A friend of God

Peter: Denied Jesus
• But he was the first disciple to receive the revelation of Jesus being the Messiah.

Israel: Kept wandering repeatedly
• But God continually pursued them.

King David: Committed adultery
• But God called him a man after God’s heart.

There are many more, but God continued to pursue them, restore them, and use them. Now I’m not saying that their shortcomings were excused by God, and I’m sure that their failure delayed progress in their lives, but what I’m saying is that despite their failures, their story and redemption reveal the steadfast nature of God.

Many people think that God works like people. Many people also compare their heavenly father to their earthly father. They might have had a father who gave up on them fast, so when they make a mistake, they think that God the Father has also given up on them. Or even their earthly father might have taken something away from them, and might also think that the words, calling, and their purpose might also be taken away from their heavenly father because of their mistakes. 

Prophet Isaiah wrote: “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” Isaiah 40:8 (NIV).

At our New West Campus, we have an outdoor signboard, and every week I put up a new sign to encourage and uplift people. This week’s message says, “God never stops pursuing people.”

Our God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and every word and plan He has for your life will endure all your failures and shortcomings and accomplish it.

2. God’s calling is not seasonal.

You might think of calling as God gave His Spirit (the Holy Spirit) to the prophets in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God would work over the prophets by His Spirit to accomplish a task, and once that task was completed, the Spirit would leave them. So you might think that when you’re obedient and feel holy because of it, God is using you and His promises and calling are activated in your life, but once you make a mistake, God no longer desires to use you, or even to the point that God regrets calling you or gifting you. But I want to tell you that God’s calling is not connected to your feelings, and also that calling is deeper than emotion. Calling is rooted in God’s purpose and guarded by His grace and mercy. The word “irrevocable” in Romans 11:29 means something not withdrawn, not cancelled, and not regretted. God knew you and had appointed you for a purpose before you were born (Jeremiah 1:5), so He knew the mistakes you would make, including those you would make in the future, but He still chose you and made a promise to never leave you nor forsake you.

The word of God says in Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion”. God is saying be confident, my son and daughter, that the purpose and calling I have for you will come into completion. And all you need to do is just like King David, when you make a mistake, to turn to Him and be after His heart.

3. How do we respond to His faithfulness?

In a culture that overlooks what was once respected and highly valued, we, the Christians, are called to continually practice and teach them. Jesus wants His followers to be committed to Him as He is committed to us. The only way we can live that commitment to Him is when we are faithful in prayer, faithful in reading His word, faithful in serving His house, faithful in trusting Him, faithful in deepening our relationship with Him, and faithful in our walk with Him, even in difficult seasons.

Hebrews 11:6 reads, “And without faith it is impossible to please God.” The number one way to please God is to trust Him, even when everything else says there’s no reason to.

In conclusion, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable, and His promises are not attached to our performances or weaknesses. He is a faithful God, and he remains steady even when we are shaky.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “God is too good to be unkind and too wise to be mistaken.”