Psalm 27: 1 – 4: 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 the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.
King David, who wrote Psalm 27 centuries before the time of Jesus, always displayed great confidence in the God he served. We all know the story of his encounter with Goliath, where David totally entrusted himself to God for deliverance. As we know David was far from perfect; he knew failure in his life, but he also knew forgiveness and restoration. Those words from the beginning of Psalm 27 are wonderful; we don’t know at which point in his life David wrote them, but we do know that during his life he faced lions and bears, wars, betrayals and rebellions, yet through it all he had confidence in the Lord whom he knew was with him always.
In my reading earlier this week I re-read the story of the temptations of Jesus, from Matthew’s Gospel, and the thing that struck me there was the absolute confidence Jesus had in His Father. Jesus knew that He could trust the Father implicitly for all His needs, for all His strength, for all the guidance that He would need for His time here on earth. The enemy tried as hard as he could, but he could not shake Jesus from His firm faith and trust, His confidence in God.
These past few months have caused a great deal of anxiety and concern for us all, and for some of us they have also brought great sorrow. Restrictions have been placed on our lives, on our movements, and even the lifting of some of those restrictions have not necessarily relieved our anxieties. There have been some lighter moments, some good news, such as Captain Sir Tom Moore and his marathon walk, and Major Michael Stanley and his “Tintanic” on Chichester Canal, but these have been few and far between. There is also the good news of Vaccines on the way, and without seeking to influence you, dear reader, in any way, I am confident that the testing and trials will be thorough, and that there truly is light at the end of this tunnel.
The theme of confidence in God runs right through the Bible; throughout history men and women have learnt that Almighty God our Heavenly Father can be totally relied upon. For instance, the reading for today from Isaiah looks forward with confidence to a time of restoration and blessing for God’s people. The theme continues in the New Testament, such as in Ephesians chapter 3 where Paul writes, “in Christ Jesus our Lord … and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” When we today put our faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour we have His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us, and countless millions of Christians throughout the ages would bear witness to the truth of that.
Our loving Heavenly Father wants us to be confident in Him, to trust His word, and to know that He is with us whatever we have to face.
A Prayer: Father, thank you for all those, past and present, who have demonstrated their confidence in you and in the Good News of your Son Jesus Christ. We pray that your Holy Spirit will so work in us that our confidence in you and your word may grow stronger daily, and that we may share your love and goodness with those who do not yet know Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Amen.