Together in Christ: 'Faith Is the Bird That Sings!' — Psalm 13:5-6

Several years ago, I came across an old paperback Bible I had bought before my sophomore year of college. I loved looking at the notes and highlights I made so many years ago as a young follower of Christ. During one of my classes, I wrote down: "Faith is the bird that sings, while it is still dark, in anticipation of the dawn." I love that. The Holy Spirit challenged me through that statement to be a person who lived by faith, trusting that God can and will do what He has promised. When my faith would wain, I would turn to Hebrews 11 and look at the people listed in the "Faith Hall of Fame" of the Bible. The Spirit would use these people, named and unnamed, to restore the fire in my soul. They lived by faith, and I realized that now is my turn to live by faith!

One of the great blessings we have in the Scriptures is that we have the story of God's faithful love that preserved His people despite their flaws, failings, and times of faithlessness. ^[1] God kept His promises to them despite their challenges with natural disasters, ruthless warriors, tyrannical kings, and weak faith. Yet God remained true when His human partners failed to live up to His standards. The more we know of Israel's history, the more we realize it is "HIStory" — the story of God's faithful love and His redeeming the world through His flawed yet chosen people. We know we can trust God's unfailing love because we see His faithfulness demonstrated through "HIStory" again and again. He raised great leaders, tore down powerful nations ruled by ruthless tyrants, and altered the course of nature and history to preserve His promises and bring His Messiah.

We rejoice in more than God's past work in "HIStory." We praise God because He has rescued, delivered, and saved us through Jesus. He made us His children and poured out His gracious love on us through the Holy Spirit. Yes, we sing praises to God Most High! We shout with joy to our God of deliverance. He is good. His faithful love endures forever. ^[2] He lavishes His love on us, and that is the basis for our loving others. ^[3] We trust in our God's unfailing love and His goodness to bring us home to live with Him in His glory, forever, where we will meet those great heroes in Hebrews 11. So, we join the bird of faith that sings in anticipation of our coming and glorious dawn!