“For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you.” Psalm 71:5-6
What do you rely on to give you confidence? Your skills, your degrees, your accomplishments? What about when you sense a call to do a task for which you feel unqualified? Have you ever found yourself wondering, “Who am I to ______ [lead this group, start this ministry, supervise these employees, organize this fundraiser, teach these children . . .]?” Have you ever thought, “You picked the wrong woman for this job, Lord”?
If we rely on ourselves, we will not be qualified for that which God calls us. In fact, throughout Scripture we see that God often chose people who felt unqualified for the tasks God laid before them: Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, Esther and Mary all felt unequal to the task. But if God can use a roaming Bedouin to birth a nation, a stuttering speaker to confront Egypt’s pharaoh, a shepherd boy to lead a nation, an exiled Jewish girl to rescue her people and a timid teenager to bear the Son of God, then God can use us! The critical question isn’t, “Can I do this?” The better question is, “Can God do this through me?” The answer is a resounding “Yes!”
When the psalmist asked God to be a refuge and rescuer in Psalm 71, he boldly proclaimed his dependence upon the Sovereign Lord. The psalmist knew that every breath he had taken had occurred because God had given it. Throughout his lifetime he had been dependent on God.
When we feel weak-kneed and lack confidence, we are most open to relying on God. The Bible gives us affirmation after affirmation of God’s strength in the face of our limited ability: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). “Nothing is too hard for [the Lord]” (Jeremiah 32:17). “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Nothing silences the voice of timidity as powerfully as the voice of Scripture.
So if you find yourself in a new situation today, make sure you don’t rely on your own limited talents or skills, but that you place your unshakable confidence in the limitless God.
Reflection
- On what or on whom do you tend to rely when feeling out of your comfort zone?
- Is there an area in your life in which God might be calling you to move out infaith? What fears do you have about that situation?
- How does the psalmist’s reliance on God in Psalm 71 encourage you and renew your confidence in God’s ability to help you?
Related Readings
- Exodus 3:1–15
- Joshua 1:1–9
- Luke 1:26–38
- 2 Corinthians 3:4–6
- 2 Timothy 1:7–12
