Today, we will consider the issue of quietness and confidence in the Lord. Oftentimes, when the world teaches confidence, it is often based on self and everything to do with them and what they do or have. While this may yield portions of success in the world, in the Kingdom of God, this will not work – it matters greatly who and what the source of our confidence is. A lot of God’s children today do not put value in who they are and what they carry; the greatest source of our confidence should be in the personal relationship we have with God, knowing that we carry His anointing, which will begin to give us the right kind of confidence we need, where we begin allowing God to use us for His exploits. We see in the Scriptures, ‘For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength” But you would not’ (Isaiah 30:15). Indeed we see in the world, a lot of people are very big on talking a big game and bragging about who they are and their accomplishments, but when you take a closer look – often, they lack substance and no real depth. These people live for competition, they have no real stable belief in all they are even speaking about and are desperately seeking unending validation to keep themselves going. We continue to read, ‘The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever’ (Isaiah 32:17), wherein the term ‘work’ refers to product – saying that the product of the full understanding of our right standing with God is peace, quietness, and assurance forever! This is the peace that surpasses all understanding, the kind of peace that is not affected by turbulent seasons, because the believer has complete confidence in God and that all things will work out for their good. This lack of understanding is what leads some converts to abandon the way of faith, because they are not assured of God’s love and the peace they have with Him; one day it’s up, another it’s down – how can anyone go the long way with that kind of instability in conviction?
Our confidence in the Lord is a reflection of the depth of our relationship with Him. This confidence reveals how far we have travelled in understanding God’s grace, how mature in the Word we have grown. This is reflective of why the scriptures indicate that we ought to come into God’s throne room with confidence (Hebrews 4:16), where timidity has no role to play in our dealings with God (2 Timothy 1:7) because we know that God is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:16). The psalmist tells us, ‘He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord’ (Psalms 112:7) – this should be the default condition of our heart, resolute in trusting in Him! Again he says, ‘Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever’ (Psalms 112:1-3). Here we see that the believer’s blessing is in the Lord and nowhere else, we see that our greatest joy should be in God’s Word, because that is where we get our mind renewed to the thoughts and patterns of God. A lack of joy in the Word of God is a good indicator of our spiritual health, we can determine if we are on the right track by use of this measure. It continues, ‘His heart is established; He will not be afraid, Until he sees his desire upon his enemies’ (v.11), showing us the importance of perseverance: how us believers should move from patience to patience, and faith to faith. This enemy could be anything, anything that is contrary to the desires of God [poverty, sickness, worry etc.], but if we keep standing, resolute in faith, God’s (and our) desire over that situation will come to pass!
We know that ‘For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin’ (Hebrews 4:15) – showing us that Jesus (our High Priest) is well sympathetic of all the weaknesses we deal with, so we need not have any reason to fear His judgement. Having walked in the flesh Himself, He knows and understands our infirmities and is not shocked or dismayed by them. Instead, He has offered Himself as a ransom for these, that we at no point, should be given to condemnation on this account. But God’s children today only enter the throne room boldly when they feel good about themselves and when they feel like they have earned God’s grace! So they come in there to look for grace, forgetting that God sits on the throne of mercy, and on those moments where we feel lowest and least deserving – that is exactly when we should come in ever more boldly, to attain God’s ever available mercy to cover us from the snares of condemnation. The issue with self condemnation church, is that it also continues on to yield self righteousness and self confidence – it takes Jesus out of the picture, and we can not allow ourselves to walk down this path. Remember this exhortation from the scriptures, ‘Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise’ (Hebrews 11: 35-36).
Prayer (Declaration)
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging. We are the river whose streams make glad the city of God, we are the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within us, we will not fall; God will help us at break of day – our confidence is in Him! The Lord Almighty is with us, and we bless His Holy name! In the name of Jesus, amen!
