Great Is Your Faithfulness
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23
Most of us are probably familiar with the famous hymn, Great Is Thy Faithfulness. However, I doubt most of us know that the phrase “great is thy faithfulness” comes from the book of Lamentations.
A few months ago, I was reading Lamentations in the Tanakh, which is the Hebrew Bible (essentially just the Old Testament). And in the Tanakh, the Jewish translators translate the phrase “great is your faithfulness” as “ample is your grace.” This is an important thing to note and has the potential to completely revolutionize your understanding of grace.
An important interpretive principle that rabbis teach their students is something called the principle of first mention. What this teaches is that to better understand what a biblical author meant by using a certain word, we should go back to the very first time the word was ever used in Scripture.
The Hebrew word that we translate faithfulness (or grace) is 'ĕmûnâ (pronounced em-oo-naw’). So we should ask, when was the first time 'ĕmûnâ is used in Scripture?
The first time 'ĕmûnâ is used is in Exodus 17:12. In Exodus 17, the Israelites are ambushed by the Amalekites. Joshua takes an army out to fight against them and Moses goes up on a hill overlooking the valley. As Moses looks down, he holds up his staff over his head. And, as long as he holds up his staff, the power of God would fill the Israelites to push back the enemy. But as the battle rages from morning… to afternoon… to evening… his arms grow tired. His strength begins to wane and his staff lowers. And as his staff lowers, the Israelites begin to be overrun by the enemy.
As Moses begins to be physically unable to do what is necessary, two men, Aaron and Hur, come alongside him and hold up his arms. Exodus 17:12 says, “Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady ('ĕmûnâ) until the going down of the sun.”
Now, you might be wondering, what does that have to do with grace? Well, many of us see grace as God’s pardon. We say, “I sinned. But no worries, there’s grace.” But if you read what the Bible teaches about grace, it’s clear that grace is actually God’s empowerment not to sin. Not a license to continue in sin.
So what is the author of Lamentations trying to teach us about grace from the story of Moses, Aaron, and Hur?
Here’s the hidden gem in the story. The Israelites needed victory over an enemy. And Moses had a directive from God, but he was physically incapable of doing it. And as Moses’ arms began to fail, Aaron and Hur came alongside him to help him do what he could not do in his own strength. To help hold up his arms so Israel could obtain victory.
This is the grace of God. Maybe you’ve emptied your strength in an attempt to obey God and it feels like your arms are about to give out. You may think, “I’ll never gain victory over this sin pattern in my life.” Or, “I’m too shy to share the Gospel.” Or, “I could never see my city or school turn to Jesus… I’m out of strength.” The victory over the enemy seems impossible. But this is when the faithful grace of God comes like Aaron and Hur to hold up our arms. To empower us to do what we are incapable of so that we can see victory.
We see in this story that Moses still had to put forth an effort. He gave all the strength that he had. And when He had come to the end of his strength, grace came to hold up his arms. God will not do it for you. Sanctification requires our participation. But praise God that He will come alongside us to empower us to do what He has called us to do. Great is His faithfulness!