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There are moments in life when confidence feels surprisingly fragile. You may still be moving forward. You may still be doing everything that needs to be done. But inwardly something feels less certain than it once did.
Most of us know what it feels like when confidence starts to slip. We keep turning up and doing what needs to be done, but inwardly something has become unsteady, perhaps because of a decision we can't settle, a situation that refuses to resolve, or a quiet voice that keeps asking whether we have got it all wrong.
There is real freedom in realising that the Bible never asks us to be confident in ourselves. It invites us to put our confidence in God, whose faithfulness doesn't rise and fall with our moods or our circumstances. These five verses can help move your confidence back to where it belongs.
2 Timothy 1:7
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
(Illustrated in the ROOTS collection)
Fear has a way of exaggerating everything, telling us we aren't ready, aren't able and aren't enough. Yet God has given us His Spirit, and His Spirit is not timid. Power, love and a sound mind are already ours in Him, so we don't have to work them up from somewhere inside ourselves; we get to live from what He has already given.
Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."
(Illustrated in the ROOTS collection)
We don't need to understand everything before we take the next step, but we do need to trust the One who does. When we lean our whole weight on Him and bring Him into the decision in front of us, He promises to direct our paths, and that is His responsibility rather than ours.
Romans 8:28
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
(Illustrated in the ROOTS collection)
Paul doesn't offer this as a hopeful maybe. He says "we know", because God is at work in every part of our story, including the parts that make no sense to us today. He wastes nothing, and one day we will look back and see His hand in the very places where, right now, we can only see confusion.
Psalm 56:3
"Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You."
(Illustrated in the UNIQUE collection)
Fear will still come from time to time, and the real question is what we do with it when it arrives. This verse turns each fearful moment into an opportunity to trust, so that even if we can't stop fear from knocking, we don't have to let it take charge of the house.
Philippians 4:6-7
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
(Illustrated in the UNIQUE collection)
Anxious thoughts tend to go round and round in our minds. God's answer is that we hand them over to Him in prayer, with thanksgiving, and He then gives us something we could never produce ourselves: His own peace, standing guard over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This is so much more than positive thinking, because it is God Himself keeping us.
Where is your confidence today?
If your confidence has been resting on your own strength, your track record or the approval of other people, it was always going to wobble sooner or later. Today is a good day to move it and place it firmly on Him, because He is faithful, He is able, and He is not anxious about your situation.
Keep these truths where you'll see them this week: our illustrated verse cards from the ROOTS and UNIQUE collections put God's Word in front of you on the hard days.
