The Covenant Keeping God

Numbers 23: 19- 20: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 20: Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath

THE art of keeping a truce emanates from the manifestation of some factors capable of aiding the fulfillment of the conditions reached by the parties in question. For agreement to be kept, the parties involved must be faithful to the terms of the covenant and have the resources to meet the terms. There must never be any form of deceit aimed at drawing back after the matter has been settled. These conditions make fulfillment of agreement possible and easy at all times.

Human beings may lack some or all of these factors, but God does not lack any. He has the resources, the power and the faith to fulfill anycovenant He enters into with any man. God is faithful, merciful, caring, protective and ready to keep His part according to His will and the faith of the other party in the covenant, hence He is called the covenant keeping God. That is why the Bible says in Isaiah 55: 10- 12:“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. 11: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 12: For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

God is faithful and powerful, hence, He does not fail in His promises; power to do all the things that belongs to Him. The Bible is awash with cases of His covenant with people and how He fulfilled them at the appointed time. In Jeremiah 1: 11- 12, the Bible says:“Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. 12: Then said the Lord unto me, thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.” In a vision God made Prophet Jeremiah to see almond tree. The significance of this tree in the vision is to prove God’s readiness to bring His promise to fulfillment. The almond tree brings out flower earlier than other trees. In this context, it signifies the near and urgent fulfillment of God’s purposed promise of judgment. This is an indication of keeping to His words and promises. God entered into covenant with Abraham; that treaty covers the entire descendants of Abraham from generation to generation. It was called into play when the Israelites, children of Abraham were subjected to slavery and forced free labour in Egypt. The terms of the covenant is that while Abraham and his children worship and serve God, God in turn offers them provisions and protection. As they continually cried unto God for intervention and deliverance the answer came in this manner in Exodus 3: 6- 8 where God replies to their prayers thus: “Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. 7: And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows. 8: And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”

As the people of God who were suffering in a foreign land, God arose to defend them. One of the terms of the covenant was that in time of trouble God will offer protection to them. The same scenario plays out in the lead scripture where King Balak of Moab hired Prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites. When Balaam encountered God, he was given the commandment to bless. Prophet Balaam made it clear to King Balak that he has no power to go against the divine instruction, adding that God has given the instruction to bless, hence, he must bless them. In all these, God is keeping the covenant He entered into with Abraham, the father of the Israelites. God will always keep His part of any agreement He entered into with any party. That is why it is written in Titus1: 2- 3 saying:“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before

the world began. 3: But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour.” God does not lie, He does not deceive, He does not go back on His words rather He makes haste to fulfill them. When God keeps His own part of the truce entered into with any man or group of people, the expectation is that man should honour Him and serve Him.

Unfortunately, man has always failed to honour God or keep to the standard of worshipping Him. God is jealous, as such we should not give His glory to another thing. Man has divided attention putting one leg in the house of God and the other in the house of mammon. That is why God is asking in Malachi 1: 6: “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? And if I be a master, where is my fear? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests that despise my name. And ye say, wherein have we despised thy name?” Man is inexcusable whenever he fails to serve and honour God. As God has faithfully kept His covenant with man in the past and He is still keeping same, man should honour God at all times by ensuring regular service to Him. When we serve God faithfully on earth our reward will be blessing through the work we do on this earth and eternal life with Christ at the end of our life on this earth. The covenant promises of God in the Bible are for the children of God. If you are not a child of God, you have no right to His covenant promises, so strive today to become a child of God by turning away from sin and sinful activities and receive Jesus Christ into your life, so that God will bring you into His covenant promises and take care of you as the covenant stipulates.