Proverbs 25:19 commentary; confidence in God, not man

19 ¶ Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.

We all have known someone we should have been able to count on when we were in trouble and found we could not. I can remember my very first inkling of being drawn to Christianity was when I got into great trouble and all of my good time friends who should have been on my side helping me vanished and only some Christians whose beliefs I had not taken seriously stood by my side. It was almost as big a revelation to me as the time when I was a child and suffered the disillusionment of realizing my parents weren’t perfect, even godlike. When Christians were the only ones who really came to my defense or at least suggested some potential in me that I couldn’t see it was a real eye opener and the beginning of a journey to faith in Christ.

But, when you should be able to trust in someone and they are useless in help, unfaithful, then it certainly is like having a broken tooth or a foot you can’t stand on.

It’s not really very smart to put much confidence in men, in any event, of any rank, but to trust in God alone is wise.

Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

Psalm 118:9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.

It is also important, when trusting God, to ask for and depend on Him according to His will and not your own vain imaginings and carnal desires. The big house you are afraid of losing to foreclosure or your ministry to circus clowns might not have been in His will. I daresay you probably didn’t spend much time in prayer, asking for His will in those matters in the first place.

1 John 5:14 ¶ And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Most Christians who got married, got a job, bought a home, a car, or chose an educational path never once consulted God as to His will, to make it plain to them. We like to think that we can choose to do something that our culture says is good and God must bless it because it’s not bad. This is ridiculous. Christians, particularly those of the “always have to be doing something” mentality think that if they can imagine a ministry that God must bless it. This is almost as blasphemous as a priest demanding that God enter into the “host” for their “holy communion” to be effective.

Preachers who conduct their ministries like this are real faith killers. They think that God is obligated to bless what they do for Him, as if that was some sort of reverse commandment in the Bible. Their congregations imagine that if I want to get married, have children, a career, and a home that since these are good things God must bless them but when divorce or widowhood comes, children go astray or, worse yet, die early, job killing economies come along, and a home becomes a rental you share with relatives or other families their faith is damaged because they had confidence in God and God let them down.

Read very carefully what God has promised. Salvation to those who trust Christ. Blessings to those who swim in His word, reading, memorizing and meditating on. Joy to those who fellowship with other believers as the body of Christ. A soul won to Christ. Many things are promised. Are you ready for them?

Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

2Timothy 2:12a If we suffer, we shall also reign with him:

We should keep our minds focused on the things He has shown us to be worthy.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Pray for the proof that you have His Spirit in you and put down those carnal appetites.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Keep your mind from worldly pursuits and desires.

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

And don’t put your confidence and trust in any man or ruler. Stay in the words of God continually; praying about them, praying them back to God, and keeping them in mind. Expect things in His will, according to His will, and He will never fail you, remembering that we live in a fallen body in a fallen world that is getting worse and worse, and yet have hope and confidence in Him.

1 Peter 1:6 ¶ Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Eternity is waiting. Have confidence. Have faith.