Having Confidence in God

Intro:

Confidence is said to be “a feeling or consciousness of one’s powers or of reliance on one’s circumstances.”

This is sometimes referred to as self-confidence. And truely we must have a sense of confidence in ourselves but as Christians our confidence must be grounded in what God has done and not what we have achieved ourselves.

Confidence can be misplaced, and if it is based in us or our abilities we will get into trouble.

John McKay, of the NFL, tells a story illustrating the supreme confidence of University of Alabama football coach Bear Bryant:

“We were out shooting ducks, and finally, after about three hours, here comes one lonely duck. The Bear fires. And that duck is still flying today. But Bear watched the duck flap away, looked at me and said, ‘John, you are witnessing a genuine miracle. There flies a dead duck!’”

McKay, A Coach’s Story

Our Psalm reading tonight is from one of the “Confidence” or “Trust” Psalms. And it just sparkles and gleams with mounting confidence. He will go on to point out that men, enemies, armies, even war and death cannot shake.

While Psalm 27 can also be classified as a Lament Psalm, I want to focus on trust or confidence aspect of David the Psalmist tonight.

This kind of confidence comes from experience. Look at the confidence David shows in God. He shows it in three ways just in the first verse

He is my light

He is my salvation

He is the strength of my life

David no doubt from experience has learned as a young man that his trust and confidence had better be in the Lord or he will be in serious trouble.

Sometimes even as Christians we try to do things on our own or depend on ourselves -

A noted brain surgeon, Dr. Bronson Ray, was taking a stroll when he saw a boy on a scooter smash headfirst into a tree. Realizing that the boy was seriously injured, the doctor told a bystander to call an ambulance. As he proceeded to administer first aid, a boy not much older than the injured one nudged through the crowd that had gathered and said to Dr. Ray, “I’d better take over now, sir. I’m a Boy Scout and I know first aid,”

Source unknown

Trying to go in our own confidence is like saying to God the brain creator, “I’d better take over now, sir, I’m a Boy Scout and I know first aid,”

Who did David say he trusted in with the bear and lion back in the field with the Sheep?

Who did David say he had confidence in when he went out to meet Goliath on the battle field?

While we can’t know for sure, some scholars think perhaps this Psalm was written before David was king. By the time he became King he had these principles established in his life.

1. God is my light -

God has been associated with light from the beginning.

By saying this David is saying that my source of well-being comes from God.

Light here is probably symbolizing God’s guiding presence, or life’s blessing.

Dr. John MacArthur says “This important biblical word picture…pictures the light of redemption in contrast to the darkness of condemnation.”

The scripture tells us that “God is light” and that “His Word is a lamp unto my feet.”

In the New Testament we are told that “If we walk in the Light” we will find fellowship, forgivenss and cleansing.

2. God is my salvation - Deliverance

We can depend on or have confidence in God to deliver to save us to help us

I heard a story recently which illustrates the idea of a resting heart in the previous chapter. An American missionary couple and their family were home on furlough, and spending their vacation at a cabin near a lake. They had three children, ages twelve, seven and four. One day the four-year-old slipped away from his brother and sister, went out on the dock to play, and fell into the lake. He didn’t know how to swim and he wasn’t wearing a life jacket. The screams of the two older children alerted the father to the danger. He ran to the dock and the kids pointed to where their brother had fallen in.

The father dove into the lake. He went all the way to the bottom and felt around frantically for his little boy. Finally, he ran out of air, came to the top, took another huge gulp of air, and went down again, searching for his son. On his way down a third time he felt his little boy’s leg. He turned and found his four-year-old son with his arms and legs wrapped tightly around one of the pilings, about three feet below the water. The father pried him loose, carried him onto the lawn, and they both caught their breath. After about thirty minutes, when things had calmed down and were restored to normal, the father asked, “Son, what were you doing down there, hanging on to that piling?” The little boy answered, “I was confident that my daddy would rescue me.” (Lou Nicholes, Conquest of the Promised Land, 2004).

Maybe you feel tonight like that little boy - holding on for dear life - You can be confident that God will come, that he will help that he will deliver.

David had to learn this the hard way. He found when he faced the bear, the giant, Saul, Absalom, that if his confidence was in God - God would see him through. God would deliver, God would save - God would be his SALVATION

3. God is my Strength -

This is a metaphor of an anchor - this is a powerful word picture of David anchored to the nature and character of God.

How did he withstand the storms and tempests that came his way? He was anchored in God -

Light…salvation…strength - “The triple shield against sundry terrors, as sufficient to ward them off” —Calvin

How confident was David in God? look at Psalm 27:3 “Though a host should encamp against me” David was so confident in God Almighty’s protection, that even if he were alone and surrounded by a host of enemy soldiers, yet he would not fear, He was in the hand of God!!!

We can depend or have confidence in ourselves and be swept away in all the debris of doubt, fear, and confusion

or we can rest in the hand of the Almighty God and be in light, be saved, and operate in His strength.

Which one are you tonight???