Psalm 27 {Confidence}
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though a war arise against me, yet I will be confident. (1-3)
~
The entire Bible can be summed up in God’s two words: Trust Me.
And the entire world’s heart-cry can be summed up in two other words: Assure me. Assure me I am loved, assure me I am safe, assure me I’ll be taken care of, assure me I’m ok, assure me that all these plaguing fears will not come true. Somebody, please, assure me.
Our heart-hunger is for confidence.
We cry out for assurance and God answers our prayer. Answers by saying, “Trust Me.”
God wants us to be confident. Godly confidence is the fruit of faith. So when God urges us, “Trust Me,” it’s because He wants to bestow on us the greatest gift, a steadfast assurance that frees us to move through life with unshakable confidence. This is good news!
But first He must deliver us from fear.
Fear is what keeps us bound in insecurity, what keeps us from the freedom of true confidence and assurance. Which is why in Psalm 27, David begins his song of confidence by proclaiming,
“Whom shall I fear? … of whom shall I be afraid?” (v.1)
But of course in his resolve that there are none to fear he of course reveals that there are plenty to fear. If there were nothing to fear he wouldn’t need to tell his heart this truth. Which shows us David’s first step toward godly confidence:
1. David talks to himself instead of listening to himself.
He is trusting God in the present and resting in godly confidence because he talks to himself about who God is rather than listening to himself fret about who his enemies are. Of course there is plenty to be afraid of. There always is. We’re always one breath away from death and disaster. This world is crazy. People are mean. Tragedy happens. Of course there are a million opportunities to fear! That is why the most common command in Scripture is “Do not fear.”
But while God knows there are plenty of opportunities to fear, He is clear there is no reason to fear. So David reminds himself of this and we should too.
2. David remembers the frequent deliverance of the Lord.
God’s past faithfulness demands our present trust. David had a history with God, had walked with God long enough to have seen God show up on more than one occasion. In order to walk in godly confidence and assurance, we must keep track of our God-sightings and God-victories. Stones of remembrance or journals or blogs or videos or pictures — we must do whatever it takes to remember. Unless we are deliberate we will always forget. David had seen his share of enemies before, and he knows their end: God makes them stumble and fall. Where have you seen God show up on your behalf and topple the opposition?
3. David strategically prepares through “worst-case” thinking.
The “what-if” game is the killer of confidence. If you want to become a thoroughly insecure and tormented person, just sit around all day and think vague “what if” thoughts. But David employs a great exercise that fights fire with fire. When you start to think “what if…” then go ahead and carry it to the furthest possible conclusion. As if to say, “Yes, dear self, what if??”
IF a spouse was killed, then what? It would be horrific, but you would grieve and mourn and scream, and God would be with you in the midst. He would make your brokenness into beauty. You would survive.
IF financial disaster fell upon you, then what? It would be a trial, would be embarrassing, difficult, painful, but God would be with you. You would not starve, and eventually God would enable you to put the pieces back together. You would survive.
IF you were met with terminal illness. Yes, you might not survive in your earthly body, but you would spend eternity with our beautiful Savior and He would be faithful to care for those you left behind. They would survive.
Jesus said not to fear he who can kill the body … but only fear the one has the power over heaven and hell. If our souls are covered by the blood of the Lamb we have no need to fear.
David says even if an ARMY encamps against him, even if WAR arises against him (I’ve never even had to worry about waking up and finding an army outside my front door waiting to kill me), even if he faced certain doom and destruction, he maintains,
“Yet I will be confident.” (v.3)
Who needs be insecure when even death cannot touch them? With this perspective we can understand how David could say,
“whom shall I fear? … of whom shall I be afraid?”
Whom? Whom?
*crickets*
That’s right. Let’s remind ourselves today. Thank you for reading.
Book Review: Battlefield of the Mind (3 ways to win the battle)
Love the Lord your God … with all your mind.
Matthew 22:37
Most of us, at one time or another have felt frustration over a certain area of our life that we just cannot seem to master. We’ve talked about Freedom from Food, but the truth is we battle for freedom in dozens of areas virtually every day of our lives. These battles are with besetting sins, areas where we seek to obey God’s best, and yet we struggle and stumble, flail and fail. We are beset, or troubled persistently by these same things again and again. And when we find ourselves facing the same foe again and again, chances are there’s a battle.
A battle of the mind.
All sin is a personal affront on the goodness of God.
All sin, in essence, looks God in the face and says, “You are not enough.” I still need to have the final word with my husband, I still need to hate this person in my heart because she doesn’t treat me like I want, I still need to be harsh with my children, I still need to stay up late and overindulge in food or media.
So if the essence of sin is believing that God is not sufficient for our needs, the place to begin is by changing the way that we think. We cannot change the way we feel but we can change the way we think. So how do we begin?
Joyce Meyer’s book, The Battlefield of the Mind, is a great place to start. I’ve never read her work, and kept arm’s length because of some of her word-faith associations and borderline health-wealth theology. So while I’m not espousing her entire ministry, necessarily (simply because I do not know enough either way), the book is a great eye-opener to all that God’s Word says about the necessity of winning the thought-battle we face each day. It’s a bit all over the place, so I can’t completely summarize but here are a few things stood out to me:
- Be careful how you speak of a situation.
- Tenaciously believe that God is for you. I was struck by one thing about Joyce Meyer: confidence. She is just so stinkin’ confident! She basically figures, “I’m seeking God, trusting God, asking God, praying to God, He loves me and will keep me from doing anything stupid.” Simple, yes? But simply true! Yes, things may “fall apart” temporarily if God wants to mold our character, but He’s not out to get us. For me, this translated into our house situation and London trip (I read the book before we went to London). I was feeling so anxious (Will God sell our house? What if He doesn’t? What if we go to London and it all flops?), but this simple step brought my mind back to peace. God loves me. He led us to read the books and hear the stories and see the world in such a way that we want to downsize our life to give to His kingdom. He orchestrated the London trip, all of it! So of course He is for us! Of course He will work out a beautiful plan. But we have to tenaciously believe this simple thing — God loves me and is for me.
I had to do some repenting of how I had labeled my dear and precious son. Yes, he is the child who requires more of my energy, but I think perhaps I’ve labeled him right into a corner clearly marked “Great Challenge” when I should have lifted him right up and placed on his head the honorable crown marked, “Great Potential.” Because truly he does. The boy already has a God-consciousness and an uncanny ability to care less about the opinions of others. It can frustrate me because he is not motivated by praise, at all. (He is motivated by treats laced with sugar.) But the gist of it is that how I think about Dutch will greatly impact how I invest in him, treat him, and train him. I truly believe that Dutch is the coolest cat in the world and want to spend myself in training that strong-willed soul into a mighty warrior for God. (Can you remind me of that when I’m weak? Thanks!)
- Determine wrong thinking and begin a new thought-pattern. It was clear as I read that there was one particular thought-pattern that was tripping me up. If we slow down and pay attention we’ll begin to see that we probably do the same thing over and over again. It might not be a horrible way of thinking, but if it’s less than God’s best then over time it will slowly lead us off course. We have to slow down, pay attention, and ask God to show us where our thought-habits are skewed. Then, the hard part: Over and over (and over and over) begin practicing God’s way of thinking instead. This is where reading/ studying/ memorizing God’s word is critical. We really must brainwash (wash and clean our minds!) with the truth of God’s Word. Where to start? Get in God’s Word every day.
What ways have you waged war in the battlefield of the mind? What worked, what didn’t work, and what have been your “aha!” moments along the way? I pray the mind of Christ for us all today. Thanks for reading.
Bless His Name
Kids sleeping in past 8am; can you believe it? Just enough time to say good morning and slip my virtual hand in yours so we can turn our gaze together to the great and glorious King we serve:
I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name
forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you and praise your name
forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works,
I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The LORD is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made. Psalm 145:1-9
Shall we bless His name, praise His name, declare His greatness, and sing aloud of His righteousness?
Let’s.
Week's end with thanks
- Twenty-four pounds of fresh, local, organic strawberries. Food heaven.
- Hike down along the river to George Rogers Park. Picnic in the grass. Four happy-tired bodies, quiet on the drive home.
- God-planned evening, divinely-orchestrated with dear friends, unknown to each other but known by God, sharing in common the African continent in the hearts.
- The prayer of faith.
- Getting to be on the giving and receiving end of God’s amazing provision. How fun is that?
- Date-night.
- Sunny Saturday evening at Mary S. Young down by the river. Kids splashing, digging in the mud. Oops, both slipped. Soaking wet and covered in mud. Recipe for happy kids. Picnic in the park. Heidi devouring Macadamia nuts.
- Splashing through the fountains at Hammerle.
- Surprise bday party BBQ out in the country. Kids eating ribs, licking fingers, slurping up bowls of homemade ice cream. This is summer!
- Sun-kissed faces.
- Getting going on Galatians. I always drag my heels, feel inadequate, then read the Word and remember that’s the whole point. I am and He’s not.
- The gospel, the power of salvation (Rom 1:16).
- Laundry hanging in the sun.
- Clothespins, little shorts, tiny t-shirts. I love summer laundry.
- Community Group family of faith. Love them.
- The gift of another head under our roof — kids so happy to have an aunty here. A smile in the morning, she fills us with her contagious joy.
- God always providing for every need.
- Quick impromptu ministry “meeting” that speaks life and encouragement to my heart.
- Early morning prayer meeting. I love this time and these women so much!
- Genuine love.
- Starbucks date.
- Generous friends.
- Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of child training. This is all going to pay off, yes? Believing this is a gift I will enjoy someday…
- An amazing answer to prayer for a friend — over and above what she ever imagined. Rejoicing with you, Debra.
- A house with room enough for mentor meetings, premarital counseling, friends sleeping over. Praying that wherever we downsize still has room for all of this…
- A fun day meeting up with a friend who all-of-a-sudden has 3 children aged 3 and under! A beautiful adoption story. Her life (and home) are an inspiration!
- Managing a full day of playing and monthly Winco trip and Trader Joe’s and Azure pick-up without a single melt-down moment … the kids did pretty well too. 😉
- Quiet, clean house. Resting children, resting mom.
- Eating a huge salad by myself on the couch.
- White vinegar. Who knew it’s the most versatile substance on earth?
- Spell-check. Icannot spell versatile on the first try. Ever.
- Heading to the Beach!
- Camping … with a motorhome. (My favorite kind)
- Unplugging.
- Studying Galatians.
- Standing fast in the gospel.
- Talking to myself instead of listening to myself.
- Persevering in the battle of the mind.
- Choosing love.
- Receiving grace.
- Fixing our eyes on the cross.