Through all of the wrestlings and wranglings of our soul it is nice to have a steadfastness upon which to lean. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe” (Prov. 18:10).
So many days I feel weak. I feel really, really weak inside. On those days I think “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”. Really? With all of my heart? “Lean not on your own understanding”. Really? Do not lean on my own understanding? “In all your ways acknowledge Him”. Really? Acknowledge God in all of my ways? Well. Ok. Then I hold on tightly to the “and He shall direct your paths” part.
Feelings can be swayed so easily. So easily. In realizing that right thinking leads to right feeling, and that what we feed our minds is what our minds are given over to, it has become quite clear to me over the past couple of years that I have to preach to myself. I have to speak the truth to myself or else I am moved too easily. I love it when David says in Psalm 16:8 “I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”
Sometimes I get so numb to the word “faith” that I need to switch it out with the word “confidence”, in order to really get it. When I read God tell Jeremiah “I am the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me?” (32:17), it leaves me thinking “No, of course there isn’t and yes I can have confidence in You”. I think I associate certainty and a firm trust with the word “confidence” more so than the word “faith”.
As I go through different seasons of life, it is nice to have confidence that God has ordained my seasons just as surely as He has ordained “seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night”. Though it feels cold and rainy, sometimes amidst the gray, the light mist feels good against your face.