What Confidence Does
January 21, 2025
And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose. Romans 8:28 AMP
Jesus assures us over and over that God is with us, no matter what. It is very clear through the Gospels that Jesus’ plan for us is to be people of great faith. Just as He felt about His first followers, He is completely committed to being with us on every step of our journey. He is guiding, protecting, giving strength, and equipping us for every situation. Jesus rose from the tomb and met with them over 40 days and then sent His Holy Spirit to His disciples after He returned to heaven. After hiding out in fear, they now spilled out on the streets, telling everyone about Jesus with their active, supernatural in-spite-of-anything faith. Each of them went into their futures confidently and faced unthinkable challenges and never turned back. They led heroic, satisfying lives because they were completely confident. They truly trusted God, and it affected how they handled everything.
Paul joined the ranks of Jesus-followers about seven years after all this, and he shared the same confidence. He refers to his faith that he can handle anything that comes his way because Christ is with him and gives him strength (Philippians 4:13). But he goes even further than that. It’s not just that he is made capable of going through any circumstance in life – it’s much better. He knows ahead of time that the God he serves is working beyond what he can see and understand. He is working something GOOD in every situation.
Because God loves us with incomprehensible understanding and love and is deeply concerned about us, He is weaving everything that happens in our lives together according to His plan and purpose. Nothing catches Him by surprise. He is all-powerful. He can do anything. He is infinitely wise, seeing the past, the present, and the future at one time. So, according to His perfect perspective and wisdom, He causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and are committed to fitting in with His plan and purpose.
That means even hard, bad, difficult things don’t stay that way. They work together and become a significant and even treasured part of our journey. We can count on God to do that when we trust Him. He grows us and we become more and more like Jesus. As we walk with Him, our faith becomes so strong that, as Paul said, we know with complete confidence that God is working for our good, even before we see any evidence.
- How would my anxiety diminish, my faith grow, and how would I respond to hardship, challenges, temptations, and even wonderful things if I was confident my good, good Father was leveraging them for my good?