Proverbs 25:19 ¶ 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.
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