1Cor10:12-13 (the message) don’t be so naïve and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
This past week has I have been both comforted and challenged by God’s word. Also meaning- I have been reading it consistently- repenting. I have been studying out God’s faithfulness and it has truly been powerful. I thought I was at peace about certain things in my life, and indeed I am, but a few weeks ago I think I mistook indifference for peace or maybe my peace changed to indifference? I can not be sure, but I know that I could not have been at peace because true, genuine peace can only come from God and reading his word and I was not in God’s word as I needed to be. I was deceived into thinking that I was at peace and lacking nothing, when in fact I had become self-confident instead of God-confident.
Deut 7:7-9 (the message) God wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and important—the fact is there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. God stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh King of Egypt. Know this: God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations.
In the NIV version states in verse nine that “he is the faithful God.” The creator of the universe is faithful to me even when I am not faithful to him, even when I have no faith in myself. As a result I default to my “old” ways of keeping people at bay with my words and having a smart mouth. When I am self confident I am arrogant, I put myself before God in my mind and I am in control. I trust in me before I trust in Him and I say what I think, or whatever comes to mind instead of considering the other person and what would be glorifying to God.
Even then- God is faithful. Even in those times He keeps his promises. That is very powerful to me. It tells me that even when I try to self-destruct or look to myself and therefore interfere with His will, he still holds to his promises to me, even when I lose perspective and faith in His promises, He does not.
Indifference or apathy can be very dangerous; it can lead to a hard heart. Peace leads to increased faith and dependence on God. Peace of mind and of heart is not something I experience often, but when it does come it is most gratifying and faith building. Must be why Satan is so set on stealing it away, why it’s so valuable and why it takes much effort and fight- especially if that fight is to give a little bit of my attention to God alone each day. This week the fight was good.