Confidence in God

God is my strength, refuge, and strong fortress; in these few words, we can find confidence that God will protect us. Can we have the same confidence in God’s providence? Having confidence in God puts our faith into action. We trust that God will provide but cannot see how. It will only make sense in hindsight.

We put our confidence in something or someone almost every day of our lives. We trust our vehicles to get us from point A to point B. We trust that a light will come on when we flip the switch. We trust that water will come out when we turn the faucet on. Can I ask if you are willing to have that same trust in God? Have that trust in God to guide you in making the right decisions about your future. Can you have the same faith in God as Abraham had that God will send an angel ahead of you to meet your needs?

God’s providence is more than simple coincidences or serendipity events. God’s providence occurs because God cares about this world and everyone in it. All through the centuries of human existence, there have been those who took great comfort in providence. It means realizing at certain places in life that God has been there before. It is evidence that God has not left this planet alone in the vast universe or forgotten for a moment the human situation. God visits, touches, communicates, controls, and intervenes before and between man and his needs. Providence is the ground for thankfulness.

Now there are counterfeits of God’s providence that we often use and say daily. Some of the false providences are:

Fate.Countless numbers of people have believed themselves to be trapped by a sometimes fickle and always foreboding fate. “As fate would have it …,” they say.

Luck. Life is indeed fortuitous at times. Optimists speak of “fortune” or less solemnly of “luck.” But, then, since this is all so impersonal, fortunetellers arose, and someone dreamed up “lady luck.”

Serendipity.This is the term used by the one who takes credit for unintentional discoveries of good things along the way in life. But he refuses to acknowledge that God was there before him and does not give thanks.

These counterfeit views compete with the idea of God’s providence. Of course, they cannot all be true. Nor can they satisfy the inquirer whose personality calls insistently for a personal providence that reflects a knowledge of his individual needs and uniqueness. Only the Christian doctrine of providence provides that.

If you recall, last Sunday, when we looked at the sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham clearly said that God will provide. The word providence means literally “to see before,” and therefore, by implication, to do something about the situation. In this case, a suitable sacrifice was already upon Mt Moriah, “a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns” (Gn 22:13).

For an unbeliever, they would have thought of a natural process where an animal had become entangled in dense underbrush, and coincidentally Abraham and Isaac happened to arrive on the scene. But to a believer Abraham who was led for three days toward that one point in time and space in desperate need of a divine provision, it was altogether clear to him that God, by whatever process, had stationed the ram at the place of sacrifice for his use which is the providence of God.

“Provision” and “providence” are related to their verbal root, provide, and are essentially and etymologically the same. However, they are theologically distinguished in usage by providence’s having come to mean divine provision, in most cases divine provision based on foresight. The whole experience of divine providence so moved Abraham that he named that mountain a new name celebrating God’s providence—a name that lasted for at least half a millennium. Using two Hebrew words, he called the mountain “the Lord will see” my need and provide in the future as he did once here.

And so, after a few years, it was time for Abraham to arrange for Isaac to get married, and again, He knew God would provide a suitable bride. Faith is not believing that God can but that God will.

Abraham’s absolute conviction that God would act was, of course, related to his unshakable commitment to the plan God had outlined. He had come too far in his walk with the Lord to doubt that God would not have His unique way of doing what was necessary. His God was too good and too great to allow anything to go wrong at this juncture.

This is the confidence in God that we need. This confidence is faith. Faith is having a relationship with the divine, who breathes and moves through us all through our actions, intellect, love, and free response. Abraham had so much confidence in God that it was passed to his servant.

The servant loaded up his ten camels and took off in the direction of the land Abraham had left so many years ago. Presumably, he knew the area where Abraham’s kin was to be found, but he could have been forgiven if he felt that finding the right woman for Isaac was rather like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. But at this point, his commitment to the Lord and the assurance of His guidance came through. We can take about four principles from the servant’s actions.

The first principle is that he kept to God’s way. To be led, we need to follow God’s way. God will not guide you into something that contradicts His will. It’s like slapping His own face if God leads us to something that transgresses His own will. Abraham gave the servant specific instructions because he was determined to keep to God’s ways, what God had revealed to him. The servant left in obedience and kept to his master’s instruction, and he was able to accomplish the impossible. When God leads you, you will never go wrong.

The second principle is to take steps to fulfill God’s will. We cannot simply sit idly and wait for things to happen. If you do nothing, you will get nothing. You must put feet to your faith and start walking with God. Abraham understands this. He believes in God’s sovereignty, he believes in God’s plan, and yet he decides to come up with an action plan, and God granted him success.

The third principle that we need to learn from the story is to pray for God’s intervention. The servant asked specifically God to intervene and when we are doing God’s work, we can be bold in asking for help. Some people see things happen. Some make things happen. We can ASK God to make things happen. We can be BOLD in asking God to intervene!

Finally, after being led by God, taking steps to fulfill his will, and praying for help, we can expect God to act. In faith, expect God’s best. The servant not only trusted God, but he also expected Him to show up.

His prayer wasn’t one of skepticism or a “let’s see what God will do” kind of prayer. He EXPECTED God to come true.

God tells us in Jer 33:3, "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know." God will surprise you.

Eph 3:20 says God is one “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us….”

Many today have gotten used to living life without any surprises from God. Even though they believe in God, they expect everything to go as usual. Frankly, that cannot be the Christian life. Our life in Christ is an adventure. God is working out His plan through us. Every day is an adventure with Him.

Pray and ask God for great things. Ask for what God wants for you, and in faith, expect God’s best!

Friends, keep these in mind:

1. Keep to God’s Word

2. Take steps to do God’s will

3. Pray for His intervention, and

4. Expect great things from Him

I want you all to think about your faith, what it is and how it comes. We live in a culture that grasps for visible signs of faith, which is driven toward scientism, and which falls for too many religious frauds. This story stands as a foil against easy and mistaken faith. The workings of God are not spectacular, not magical, not exceptions. Exposure to God comes by steady discernment and by a readiness to trust the resilience present in daily affairs.

The faith of this narrative is one in which things occur seemingly as they will and yet are credited to God. The text nurtures a mature faith that resists easy idealism and brutal cynicism.

The faith offered here is for those who are willing to be led. The mandate of Abraham (v. 7) looks back to 12:1 and sets such faith precisely where it must be lived, between the old place abandoned and the new place not yet received. Let us have confidence in God today!