Psalm 89:8

“O Lord God Almighty! Where is there anyone as mighty as You, Lord? Faithfulness is Your very character” (NLT).

I teach in a public school and these days, there’s a lot of talk within educational circles about character education. The word “character” in that context is basically talking about morality, the ability to see the right and wrong in each situation and to choose the right, regardless of one’s initial impulses or desires. Basically, for me, character means that foundational part of a person that motivates his decisions, his behavior, and from which he cannot deviate without conscious choice or the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Character is who we are when no one else is looking.

A. W. Tozer wrote an entire book on God’s character, The Knowledge of the Holy. In an opening chapter, he wrote: “An attribute of God is whatever God has in any way revealed as being true of Himself.” In his Bible Handbook, Pastor Jack Hayford wrote: “God may be described in terms of His attributes, the inherent characteristics of His person or being.” I truly believe that when the translators of the NLT chose to translate Psalm 89:8 using the word “character,” they chose that word deliberately.

Faithfulness is Your very character.

That phrase is so powerful. Think about how it is different from these phrases:

You are a faithful person.
You are always (or usually) faithful.

Faithfulness—the act of being faithful all the time—is not only a way to describe God; it is God. The very essence of faithfulness, its very existence, is dependent upon God Himself existing. There is no faithfulness without God. Galatians 5 tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (v. 22-23). The thing is, these are not simply characteristics or attributes of God; these are God. Without Him, these would not exist. Without God, there is no love, for God is love. Without God, there is no joy, for God is joy. Without God, there is no peace or patience or kindness or generosity or faithfulness or gentleness or self-control. These things do not exist outside of Him and we simply describe Him using them. These things are God!

Faithfulness is Your very character.

It is so very easy to deceive ourselves into thinking that our lives and this world can exist, even for a moment, without God or outside of His influence. It’s easy to “make believe” that we can do something that He won’t see or that we can hide from Him. (It would be easier to hide from the oxygen that surrounds our planet than to hide something from God.) I can’t hide the fear or anger within my heart from Him. I can’t hide my frustration with a certain situation or my desire for vengeance. He sees it and He already knows about it. What He’s waiting for isn’t to discover it, but rather for me to honestly admit that I have sinned and to seek His willing and ready forgiveness. And He is willing and ready to forgive because He is faithful.

© 2012 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.