“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.”
Joshua 1:5
I remember when I was in one of my first pastorates in the little town of Hobart, Oklahoma. There was an accident outside of that little farming community. And it turned out that three boys were drunk and crashed their car. They were all from Oklahoma City and they’d come out there just to drive the roads and tear things up.
So the sheriff decided to throw all three of them in jail because they hadn’t been injured very badly in the accident. They called the fathers of these boys in Oklahoma City, and two of the boys’ fathers came to get their sons. But the other one said, “I’m not coming to get him. I’m tired of fooling with the mistakes of this boy and he can sit there all year long, but I’m not coming to get him.”
Well, the boy heard that his father wasn’t coming to help him. And the next day, they found him hanging by his own belt in that jail cell in Hobart. His father had left him. And he was so heartbroken and in despair that he took his own life.
God will never leave you. No matter how many times you mess up or walk away from Him, He’ll always be there, ready to welcome you home. So if you think that you’ve messed up too badly to come back to God, remember that He will never leave or forsake you!
YOU’VE NEVER FALLEN TOO FAR FOR GOD TO FORGIVE YOU. SO NO MATTER WHAT YOU’VE DONE IN LIFE, YOU CAN ALWAYS COME BACK TO HIM.
The Danger of Over-Confidence
Thursday, May 23, 2019
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.”
1 Kings 20:10–11
Most corporate CEOs are fairly anonymous to the general population, but not Todd Davis. The cofounder of LifeLock, the company that provides identity theft prevention services became very well known during the company’s aggressive advertising campaign. Davis publicized his own Social Security number, basically daring anyone to steal his identity. Many of the commercials featured shocked people warning him of the danger that his stunt posed. Davis declared his trust in his company, but it proved to be misplaced. A number of people succeeded in opening various accounts using Davis’s information and identity. He was confident, but he was wrong.
The world tells us to believe in ourselves, but God tells us to believe in Him. The world says that we can be anything we want to be, but God says we can do all things through His strength. Rather than becoming self-confident, God wants us to be completely dependent upon Him so that He gets all the glory. “And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me” (Judges 7:2).
Building confidence in ourselves does not make us stronger, but more vulnerable to attack and temptation. Paul warns, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). While we should be not fearful or discouraged, it is vital that we remember our strength and ultimate victory are all God’s doing and not our own. Confidence in Him is never misplaced or disappointed.
Today's Growth Principle:
When we place our confidence in ourselves rather than God, we are headed for trouble.
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