This week, as I sat down to begin my “Year in the Gospels” (part of my Scripture over Screentime experiment, which you can read about here), I opened my Bible to the January 1 reading and grimaced.
“Oh goodie,” I thought. “A Genealogy.” Somehow, reading a list of Jesus’ ancestors didn’t strike me as inspirational reading for the new year—and yet that’s exactly what it turned out to be.
Matthew 1:1 says:
“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham…” (NIV)
But it could just as easily read, “This is the story of the faithfulness of God.”
Embedded in that one short verse are 3 truths about God’s faithfulness we desperately need to remember as we enter this new year:
1. God is faithful when our faith is tested.
“This is the genealogy of Jesus…the son of Abraham…”
Abraham was an Old Testament man who received great promises from God. All the way back in Genesis, God promised him blessings, numerous offspring that would become a great nation (Gen 15:5, 12:2), and that everyone on earth would be blessed through his lineage (Gen 12:3).
To many of us, these promises might have seemed too good to be true, but Abraham readily believed them. He trusted that God could and would do what He had said. And as a result, He got to see God’s faithfulness in the details of his life. Despite their old age and medical impossibilities, God gave Abraham and Sarah a little boy named Isaac, their son of promise.
But soon there came a test: God said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love…to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you…” (Gen. 22:2, NIV)
Can you imagine how Abraham must have felt as he walked up that hill? It’s easy to trust God when He promises to bless us. It’s a lot harder to trust God when He asks us to leave our blessings in His care and walk paths we don’t understand.
Yet, seeing Abraham’s name in Matthew 1:1 reminds us: God is still worth trusting in the places that challenge our trust in Him. You see, not only did God spare Abraham’s son Isaac on that mountain, He also furthered and foreshadowed His promise of Jesus, the ultimate “son of Abraham” who would be sacrificed on a mountain in Moriah so that we could be spared. In Jesus, God’s promise to bless the world through Abraham was fulfilled.
Even in a moment that looked desperate and contrary to God’s goodness, God was faithfully working out a good plan. His promises never wavered. So, we can trust: even in the moments that test our faith this year, God will still be faithful and fully worth trusting.
2. God is faithful despite our failings.
“This is the genealogy of Jesus … the son of David…”
Scripture tells us that King David was a man after God’s own heart. It also tells us that God promised to establish David’s throne forever and to never take His love away from David’s descendants.
Perhaps to some, these promises of blessing seemed fitting for an incredible man of God like David. But the truth is, David was far from perfect. Shortly after receiving God’s promises, he took Bathsheba for himself and had her husband killed to cover up the infidelity.
Surely, the question had to hang in the air: Would God revoke His incredible promises now that David had failed? But miraculously, the answer was “no.” Despite David’s sin (and the painful consequences that followed), God called him to repentance and then continued using and blessing him.
What’s more, Matthew 1:1 reminds us that God ultimately kept His promise to David in Jesus. He is the “Son of David” who sits eternally on the throne. And because of Him, God’s love will never be removed from those adopted into Christ’s family (and therefore David’s family) by faith.
No matter our failings, God will remain faithful to His promises and His love for us.
The truth is, none of us are jotting down “plans to fail” on our new year calendars—at least I hope we aren’t. God’s unconditional faithfulness should never be viewed as a license to sin. But it should reassure us: if we, who know and love God, should fail in some way—big or small—this year, He will not give up on us. His love and promises are sturdier than that. After all, God’s faithfulness is dependent on His goodness, not ours.
3. God is faithful in our waiting.
“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah…”
God first promised humanity a Savior in Genesis 3, right after the fall. But countless generations lived and died before the promised Savior actually arrived. It wasn’t that God had forgotten His people or that He failed to keep His Word. He had actually been working out His plan with intention in every generation. Matthew 1 makes that clear.
So, this year, if we find ourselves waiting on answers to prayer or on the fulfillment of some Scriptural promise, we should remember: while we are waiting, God is working. And His plans are always worth the wait. If you need proof, just consider all the good He has given us in Jesus.
I’m so thankful I got to start the new year by reading the genealogy in Matthew 1. It truly is the story of God’s faithfulness. Despite faith-testing trials, human failings and long seasons of waiting, God was faithful to his people and faithful to give us Jesus.
May we trust this proven, trustworthy God with all the details of our lives this year.
This devotion is based on one of the Scriptures from my 2025 reading plan: “A Year in the Gospels” To receive a copy of the reading plan (and future reading plans), sign up for the email list below. Hope you’ll follow along! You can also learn more about my Scripture over Screentime experiment here.
Written by Paige K. Burhans
©2024 Paige K. Burhans
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®
Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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