If you were to recruit a grandchild to help you make pancakes, and they, by your guidance and gentle control, measured the flour, cracked the eggs, whipped the ingredients all together, but you saw to it that no shells got in and that the pan was at an appropriate heat, who actually made the pancakes? You’d probably quickly proclaim to anyone who asked that it was your grandchild that did it, but you would know that it was not by their cunning ability and cleverness that they were made well.
This is a poor example, but it points to a truth we so often ignore. We, like the child, get to participate, yet it is by the Lord’s loving hands and guidance that all good things are accomplished. As we read of the covenant cut with Israel, first starting with Abraham, continuing onward through Moses, then David, we hear the profound truth that God will always be faithful to this covenant, and he is. We quickly see, too, how unfaithful humanity can be. Often we hold a narrow view, too, of what that covenant looks like, the extent of God’s faithfulness and our ignorance to its nuance. A child does not understand nuance when it comes to baking, and that is why they need guidance.
God’s faithfulness to the covenant reaches into every single promise that he has made. That is why when we read of Jesus’ fulfillment of a prophecy it has such weight. This is the God who really is faithful. Yet, it goes beyond just doing what he said. In recognition that we cannot or will not be faithful, Jesus is. Through him, our side of the covenant is kept, for us, in us, and through us. He has promised the indwelling Holy Spirit, and as God, that Spirit remains faithful to the covenant. “For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by him…”, Paul proclaimed (Col 2:9-10). What can this mean other than somewhere inside us, yearning to burst out, is a young cook who desperately wants to make pancakes! We still need, however, the loving guidance of the Lord, despite having all the tools needed to satisfy that yearning.