Be God-Confident, Not Self-Confident
We are to be confident in the Lord, not in ourselves (Psalm 20:7). This confidence in Him is cultivated by a full commitment of our destiny to Him (Psalm 37:5, NJB). We want what He wants for us – nothing more, nothing less. Of course, the flip side of this is we give up confidence in ourselves. We don’t look to our own strength or wisdom but seek His strength and wisdom. This does not come all at once but develops. It is cultivated. So is confidence in the Lord.
How do we become more confident that He will act for us? In part, this comes from digesting and meditating on God’s Word. The Bible encourages us to have confidence in our final blessed state (Romans 15:4, GW). His Word helps us to persevere in faith and this leads to greater development of Christ-like character. The result of such character is confidence in God (Romans 5:4, GW). This is why we are told to repent of the sin of losing confidence that our God is King (1 Samuel 12:14, CW). It is a lack of faith in His character and ability which causes us to lose confidence in Him. It is a problem of not having enough of a Christ-like character.
Let us look to Him, not to ourselves, with a confidence that doesn’t underrate Him or tempt Him by doing something contrary to His will and expecting Him to still spare us the consequences. He is King of all. He is worthy of our confidence.
We are to be good stewards of the children God may give us.