CONFIDENCE

                                                                 (Sam 118: 8 & 9)

One of the greatest mistakes that has often been committed by people today is – many Christians, including ministers in the church, put more confident in mortals/ worldly things than God.

Therefore, by having realized the present condition on normal Christian life today, i chose this key word from the above two verses (8&9) “CONFIDENCE” as the main theme for this  meditation.

In this Psalm 118: V. 8 & 9 – the term ‘confidence’ is compared with the term ‘trust’ (KJB, NRSV, CEV) or ‘refuge’ (NIV, ESV, NLT) or ‘shelter’ (ISV & NET bible) by mentioning – it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in mortals.

Although the emphasize made by the psalmist is – to take refuse, or to take shelter or to trust in the Lord; the very term which i called it as secondary keyword ‘Confidence’ is going to be our main focus as mentioned earlier. In the meantime, one thing we should not fail to acknowledge is - the scripture does not tell us that - ‘to put confidence in mortals is wrong’; rather it has been clearly mentioned as – "It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in mortals."

However, before we come to the main section where we suppose to make (our) emphasize, i just want to highlight the background of this entire section of psalm 118.

This Psalm 118 is one of the most popular psalms of the Psalter for Jews and Christians.

Martin Luther, for example, considered it as his favorite psalm.
He wrote:

   “This psalm is one of the psalms that I loved… for it has often served me well, and has helped me    out of grave troubles, when neither - emperor, kings, wise men, clever men, nor saints, etc. could have helped me.”

It is a song of thanksgiving by an individual who was delivered from his enemies.

And as remarks given by some commentators -

Psalm 118 had a very important role during the Feast of Tabernacles and the Passover Feast. So, at Passover it was sung, together with Psalms 115-117.

And as a result of the interchange of various voices in Psalm 118 and the shifts of address, the compositional structure of this liturgical psalm is very complex.

-    The chapter begins with an opening call to give thanks in verses 1-4.

-    It continues with the king’s personal testimony of his rescue from a vicious attack by internal enemies (vv. 5-18)

-    Then, a “script” for thanks giving processional (vv. 19-28).

-    And lastly, the psalm concludes in verse 29 with the same call to praise as verse 1, thereby enclosing the poem as a whole.

Therefore, coming to the term ‘confidence’…the meaning and root word is pepoithesis from peitho i.e – to persuade which means – full persuasion and expresses a belief in someone or something to point of placing one’s trust or reliance in it/them. It is also a belief that one can rely on someone or something.

Confidence is also internal factor and force that gives us strength and power, boldness, ability or aptitude, enthusiasm, determination and many more to do something and to help us move and grow in all directions. It is also the quality that every individual needs to have to get success in life.

However, my points of interest, what I would like to mention from these two selected texts are;

There are;
-    Men of full of confident by birth.

-    There are also people who built up their confidence in and through various sources;

For example;
-    Ladies belonging to NE states, whoever may be even from N or S India, but not all, (no offense) likely to feel more confident when they could cover up their body with the latest fashions (?). That means – our confidence depends on the new and latest fashion/beautiful dresses that we considered it as best suited for us.

-    Likewise, there are many people who put their confidence and at the same time people who build up their confidence in and through various sources.

One of the main reasons and purposes of theological education that we have been taken up in and through various theological institutions is to equip students (our young people) to become effective witnesses in their diversified Christian vocations. To put in another words – it is to build up and equip our students in order to become more confident.

As mentioned earlier, this is one of the objectives of theological education in every theological institution especially an institution under Senate of Serampore College.

It is also my believed and as I have come a crossed, that when our students graduate from the college, most of them/you could get more confidence, perhaps and hopefully some of them/you might have gone little further to acquire over confident too.

To some extent, another thing that i would like to add more is – many theologians too including an ordained ministers, pastors, priests, bishops  have committed the same mistake; i.e we, many theological graduates who have committed ourselves to the service of God have often put more confidence in our education, in our degrees believing that getting more higher education and degree is the main foundation that enable a person to serve God in the ministry of God, in this postmodern context where we live in which is also constituted mostly by highly educated people.

I do not oppose/against it to have more higher education and have more knowledge or wisdom to have confidence, etc. I rather prefer to say that – there is nothing wrong to have self-confidence, and of course, we must build up more confidence to get success in life. But building up our confidence in and through earthly things forgetting/ignoring/overlooking about the imperativeness of the Holy Spirit in our personal life is one of the greatest mistakes we often have committed.

In addition to what have been mentioned, another few more points i just want to add more are;

-    There are people who tend to build up their confidence in money and wealth.

-    There are also people who are trying to get their self-satisfaction/confidence in their physical appearance, hair style, make up, etc.

-    There are also people who put their confidence in their position, status, grade, etc.

-    There are also people who put their confidence in place or geographical location where they belonged and from where they have come from…

-    There are also people who put their confidence in their belongings; like too expensive electrical gadget (eg: smart phone), branded shoes and cloths, expensive ornaments, etc

As mentioned earlier, we all have freedom to look for it in and through which we may build up confidence.

But, let us not overlook anymore the vital role play by the Holy Spirit in our personal life, as well as in our ministry. Holy Spirit is the basic source and foundation where we found and get all our spiritual needs and it is also the right foundation from where we ought to build up our confidence for the ministry of God.

Lastly, to edify and to equip ourselves in building up our confidence for the service of God, let us draw ourselves near to God. Let us not forget to consider about the relationship we have between God and us.

The more you absorbed yourselves to God, the more confident you are.

The more you come closer to God, the more confidence you will get in Him.

This is what and how we need to reconsider about our confidence for the service of, and for the kingdom of God.

Be confident,
Have confidence in you,
Built up your confidence in things,
But most of all in God.