HOW'S YOUR CONFIDENCE?

I did a double-take and then had to snap a picture of this sight on a side street not far from our house while I was on a morning run a few days ago.

Haitians often decorate their passenger vehicles with slogans in Creole or French - "The Blood of Jesus", "Only God", etc. My single year of college French from 30 years ago aided me in recognizing the meaning behind this once boldly painted inscription of "CONFIANCE EN DIEU".

Yup, "Confidence in God".

I still can't decide if it's funny or sublime.

How's YOUR confidence in God? 

A little banged up? Riddled with holes? 

Wheels fallen off?

Going nowhere? Stuck in a rut?

We live in a fallen and broken world, ambushed all too frequently by pain, discouragement and fear. Confusion. Uncertainty. Depression. And sometimes life's path cuts unavoidably straight through the valley of the shadow of death itself.

Today, if you are one of those whose confidence in God is fading, ebbing, lagging, gasping for breath, know that I am praying for you. 

This past week Cowman's Scripture memory verse was from John 6. The entire chapter is so fascinating. It begins with Jesus feeding the 5,000. Then they want to make him an earthly king by force. So Jesus slips away and later walks three miles across water to catch up with the 12 disciples. Then some of the 5,000 pursue him to Capernaum. And there he talks about their need to eat his flesh and drink his blood and they are offended by this and by his claim that he "came down from heaven". 

The gathered crowds disperse. Grumbling, they walk away from Jesus. 

And Jesus turns to the 12 disciples and asks, "Are you guys leaving too?"

Peter's response is one of my favorite lines in all of Scripture and one I have often pondered when life has gotten confusing and God doesn't seem to make sense:

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

In other words, as the idiom goes, "Lord, you've got me over a barrel. I don't see the way forward, but I know there's no turning back."

In that moment, the act of following Jesus generated more questions than answers and it wasn't easy to believe, but Peter dismissed alternative paths as utterly untenable, preferring to cling to Jesus because his words had the unmistakable ring of truth. The ring of eternal life.

When you're over that barrel, where you don't see the path forward in the present darkness, I pray that you too will recognize there's no going backwards, and as difficult as it may be, cling in the darkness to the One who speaks the words of Eternal Life.

And someday your confidence will be sight.

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." - I Corinthians 13:12

Hang in there!