"Confidence In Jesus"

"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalms 27:1) Sooner or later I will move past verse one, but not today! Seeing how this is titled "A Prayer of Praise", I am reminded how important it is to praise God in all things; not just in the good things that might happen to us, but to those things which are considerably bad, we must still praise Him in the midst of every storm, no matter how reluctant we might feel about doing so. I have heard several prominent men of God make references to the fact that they yell at God; as if to make light of the fact that they will sometimes be mad at God for letting something happen, or for not answering when they have called; I do not feel comfortable with the notion of being angry at God; actually, I never want to be found being angry at God, because there is no point to be mad of my confidence in God's love for me and how all things work for the good, if I am angry over something that has happened or not happened the way I had hoped. I might have a thing or two to be angry about, but I believe that God has a reason and a plan in everything that His children are allowed to go through, no matter how crazy and totally ungodly that ordeal might seem, God's children are promised to be brought through to the other side, and in that we should be confident through any storm that we face. How does being angry at God display our confidence in His protection? It really does not! As a matter of fact, it displays our mistrust in what He is allowing us to go through; as if we are the ones that know what is best for our lives, and therefore we are going to tell God off for not doing it our way. Job's wife had put that charge in front of him, by saying, "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die." (Job 2:9) Job's reply to his wife was one of confidence in God's ultimate end game, and that we are to expect good and bad things to happen in our lives; after all, God brings rain and sunshine to both the good and the bad people, so how are we to rate any higher than others? Job 1:22 says, "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." After having lost all his livestock, his servants, and his children, Job's answer to God was to worship Him, and to give Him praise, saying, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21) If you ever want a really good example of how something that seems totally crazy and ungodly can be God's actual plan the He intended to go the way that it did, then we have the greatest example of all in the death of His Son! You know that all those who watched Him be crucified had that big question exploding in their hearts: Why God; why are you letting this happen? Could it be that God knows what He is doing??? "Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not." (Job 42:1-3)