Day Nine: How is your confidence?
Scripture: Micah 7:7, ESV
Principle: Confidence in God results in prayer.
Where do you turn in the darkest hours? The prophet Micah was living in a dark time in the history of Israel. In the preceding verses, Micah says he is sad because there are no good people left. They attack each other and are only good at accomplishing evil. The government is corrupted with judges and officials taking bribes. The very best of them does nothing more than cause pain.
Where does he turn? He says don’t turn to your friends. Don’t turn to your spouse. Don’t turn to your family. He doesn’t have any confidence that they can do anything to help. So where does he turn? He turns to God. Why? Because his confidence is in God. He is certain beyond any shadow of a doubt. Where does this confidence come from? It comes from the character of God. We know from his word His character and that he is completely trustworthy. It is filled with a mountain of evidence of God’s goodness. You simply have to start climbing to see time and time again he promises and delivers.
He promised Abraham an heir and he delivered. He promised the Israelites deliverance from 400 years of slavery and he delivered. He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that they would possess the land where they lived and he delivered. He promised David that his kingdom would last forever and he delivered. Elijah prayed and God heard and it didn’t rain for three years.
And if that weren’t enough, then we know from experience that God is trustworthy. There is no one who can call themselves a follower of Christ and say God has not heard my prayer. If He had not heard your prayer, then you would still be lost in your sin. Our life group that meets each week shares a praise and a prayer request and the number of answered prayers has been astounding. God hears our prayers and can be trusted. Charles Spurgeon says,
“This assurance, “My God will hear me,” is better than all the aid of mortal men, and a greater wealth than the mines of India could afford you.”18
Application: Make this your prayer,
“I want to separate myself from all other things. My soul chooses Jesus. My soul needs Jesus. I want to trust in nothing else.”19
18C. H. Spurgeon, “My Own Personal Holdfast,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 35 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1889), 73.
19 Robert Hawker, “My Praise Flows to Your Ocean,” in Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans, ed. Robert Elmer (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 227.