Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Confidence”
Our Bible verse for today: “For you are my hope, Lord God, my confidence from my youth.” Psalm 71:5 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Be confident in God.”
How confident are you, and in who or what does your confidence lie? Some people are very self-confident. In fact, they’re so confident in their own skills and abilities that they become over-confident, to the point of being cocky about it. God has a word for such people, it’s found in Proverbs 16:18 and it reads like this: “Pride comes before destruction and an arrogant spirit before a fall.”
On the other end of the spectrum are those who are deeply insecure and lack confidence altogether. God has a word for them too. We find it in Isaiah 41: 10: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you: I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.”
That’s what the Psalmist was talking about in Psalm 71. Verse five is merely a snippet of the profound truth he expresses for twenty-four verses – his faith and confidence is in God not in himself. He had learned from his earliest days as a child that as long as he was walking closely with God, it was neither his own strengths nor his weaknesses that mattered. God was his strength, his guide and his protector. Therefore his confidence was in what God could do, not in what he could do.
If you see yourself as a muscle-bound Charles Atlas, capable of handling everything and holding up the world, you’re deceived and headed for a fall. If you see yourself as a meek and mild, sniveling and cowering Casper Milquetoast, capable of nothing and afraid of everything, you too have lost sight of what’s true. Walk closely with God, rely on His strength and on His ability and your confidence will be in Him, not in yourself.
All this month we will explore the theme of confidence – what it is and where we get it. I look forward to learning and growing with you.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 