Cast not away your confidence

The Word of God does not promise that we’ll flow through life on a bed of roses. Rather, we are forewarned of the trials, afflictions, tribulations and temptations that will come to us. But praise God, His Word also instructs us about how we may successfully handle all of them:

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy (I Peter 4:12-13).

Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen (I Peter 5:7-11).

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all (Psalms 34:19). He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him My salvation (Psalms 91:15-16). Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses (Matthew 8:17); He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes (Psalms 105:37).

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).

In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). The Lord Jesus Christ is saying here that you are an overcomer because He overcame the world for you. In other words, you are an overcomer by virtue of Christ having overcome the world. It is not anything you achieve by struggling, but by simply accepting it and appropriating it. Now you can understand such Scriptures as: Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world (I John 4:4); For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith (I John 5:4).

All that our Lord Jesus Christ did in the Atonement was for us!

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry (Hebrews 10:35-37).

Hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end; For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end (Hebrews 3:6,14). Whatever miracles your situation and circumstances call for, you can, by faith receive from the Lord – Galatians 3:5-6 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Here, the Word implies that it is with us as it was with Abraham. How was it with Abraham? He simply believed the Word of God. He had faith that God would do exactly as He promised. He was fully persuaded by the Word of God alone. He held fast the beginning of his confidence when his faith was tested. He was wholly occupied with the Word of God in the matter. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, nor yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb (Romans 4:19) as any barrier or any reason for doubting that Isaac would be born. These things, which, according to nature, made the birth of Isaac impossible, were not considered by Abraham as the slightest reason for doubting. He knew his age; he recognized the barrenness of Sarah. He weighed the difficulties; but notwithstanding the impossible, he believed God.

Under utterly hopeless circumstances, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able to perform (Romans 4:20-21).

It is noteworthy that it was by looking unto the promise of God that Abraham waxed strong in faith. Even when Isaac was born and God tested Abraham by telling him to offer Isaac, thus removing the visible encouragement to his faith, Abraham refused to cast away his confidence. Real faith thrives on a test. Since he still had God’s Word for it, he was ready to remove every visible encouragement to his expectation and yet continue to be fully persuaded. God had to halt him or he would have offered Isaac. This test was God’s way of perfecting his faith, not of destroying it. Abraham’s faith was not based on anything he saw. You must see to it that yours is not. All that Abraham could see was contrary to what he was expecting. When God’s Word is the sole reason for your expectation, you will hold fast the beginning of your confidence. It is never Proper or reasonable to cast away your confidence as long as you have the Word of God as its basis.

To be occupied and influenced by your situation and circumstances instead of God’s Word is to question the veracity of God. During the interim between God’s promise and its fulfillment, instead of looking at his situation and circumstances and casting away his confidence because he had nothing visible to encourage him, Abraham did exactly the reverse; he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

After Jonah prayed for mercy from within the fish, he did not cast away his confidence because there was no visible proof that his prayer was heard. He held fast his confidence and added to it in advance, a “sacrifice unto the Lord with the voice of thanksgiving” (Jonah 2:9). After marching around the walls of Jericho, Joshua and the children of Israel did not cast away their confidence because the walls of the city were still up. Their faith was based on God’s Word that promised that “I have given into thine hand Jericho.” (Joshua 6:2). If none of these cast away their confidence, why should you? Rather, Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry (Hebrews 10:35-37).

193 – Cast not away your confidence