A Quiet Confidence

This is a two-for-one special again - because today's reading and tomorrow's reading fit so well together. Also - I would like to include an invitation for you to join us in prayer before class tomorrow. We will meet in the loby and WWV and then head back to the little classroom that is next to the old Bridge room - hope you will join us!

The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. - Isaiah 32:17

When we take on the righteousness of Christ, we receive much, much more than saving grace. Indeed, God intended the Christian life to be rich and abundant - not just an escape from fire. Isaiah tells us that peace should be a fruit of righteousness - and along with that peace, we be quiet and confident, knowing that our perfectly loving God offers us every promise in his word.
But we have to know our God, and we have to know his word in order to place our confidence firmly on God. If we don't know God well, we tend to feel as though our own actions are a little be more effective, and we miss out on the full implications of what Christ has come to offer us.

Hebrews says that we are able to approach the throne of grace with confidence. Matthew 6 has a lot to say about this - vs. 8 says that our father knows what we need before we ask; vs. 33 says that if we seek God's kingdom and his righteousness, we will have everything that we need - therefore do not worry. Matthew 7:10 promises that our father will give us good gifts. Proverbs 2:7-8 says he is our shield and a protection for the righteous. Psalm 145 says that he fulfills the desires of those he loves, that he hears their cry and rescues, that he watches over us.

That is just a very, very short beginning of a list of all God promises to us when we accept his righteousness. If you feel like you have not been walking in that peace - in the quietness and confidence of Christ, then Isaiah 30:15 gives us simple instructions of how we can begin today:

"In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength."

That's it - it is that simple. However, if we are to be honest with one another, when life get's a little uncertain, we often tend to do what vs. 16-17 describe. Instead of repenting and resting - being quiet before God and trusting that he will provide all we need to fight our battles, we act in desperation and we act on our own. We run away, or we run around trying to work things out in our own efforts. We worry, we become desperate, we become exhausted.

But God simple calls out to us and says repent, rest. Tell God that you haven't fully trusted him. Tell him that you desire to put full confidence in his unfailing love - and then ask him to help you and to show you the way. And my precious brothers and sisters, God is SO faithful to do just that. He absolutely is the God of perfect timing, perfect and loving compassion, strength and power. He is a God who is who he says he is and will do what he says he will do. Isaiah 30:18 says this about that God that we serve:

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait on him!

God is waiting - waiting for you to wait on him and allow him to be gracious and compassionate. In every way - in every day. Will you accept what he has to offer and live the life of quiet confidence?

For further study:

Check out the book of Daniel for good examples of quiet confidence. Daniel 3 tells the story of the fiery furnace and chapter 6 tells of Daniel in the Lions den. These men where absolutely confident that God would rescue them. How were they able to be so confident. What things did they do and or have in their lives that helping them rest in this way?