For I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep unto that day that which has been entrusted to me.
A Pharisee asked a cynic, “Why do you doubt everything?”
“I doubt because of you,” replied the cynic. “You are certain about the number of fleas on the donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem. Why should I trust anything else you say?”
“Then don’t trust me. But shouldn’t you at least be confident in God?”
“Whose god? Your god? I don’t think I want that. I would rather be humble enough to admit that I may be mistaken.”
The Pharisee and the cynic are alive and well in churches across the land. The Pharisee thinks faith requires him to know everything, while the cynic thinks humility requires him to question everything. The Pharisee emphasizes doctrine in a way that squashes out the heart. The cynic emphasizes the heart or mystery or ethics or some other thing in a way that squashes out knowledge of God. Both people have a wrong heart that is shown by their confidence. One has a false confidence. The other no confidence in God at all. Both the Pharisee and the cynic take the heart off the path of God. One will cause the heart to veer off the bridge to the right, the other to the left. Either way, you end up in the river, and Satan is pleased, for you will go nowhere with God.
A heart that sees God has confidence in Him. Our current world entices the follower of Jesus to give up any source of assurance. It associates assurance with arrogance and then points to the Pharisee as proof that religious confidence is morally deficient. Yet simple faith in Jesus is far more humble ─ and confident ─ than the humility of this world. Humility and certainty are not opposites. Those who are in Christ know in whom they have believed (II Tim 1:12). They know that they have eternal life (I Jn 5:13). They have confidence about things they cannot see (Heb 11:1), and this confidence breeds humility.
A genuine heart is certain of those things the Bible speaks of. Jesus’ people know that the blood of Jesus cleanses them from all sin. They know that their Savior has bodily risen from the grave and that death is swallowed up in victory. They know that God works all things together for their good. They know that they have a holy, righteous, sovereign, and mighty God. They know Him, and because they know Him, they can boldly approach Him and unwaveringly trust Him.
To some, such confidence will always be arrogance. To others it will be ignorance. In reality, it is more like the confidence that a small boy has in a good father. The boy trusts Dad because he knows him. In this respect, a lack of confidence is a symptom of an unhealthy relationship. When the boy constantly doubts Dad, we have a problem. This is true between children and parents, husbands and wives, employers and employees, and it is true between God and us. Confidence and trust go hand in hand. If we say that we trust God, but we are not confident in anything that He says, we deceive ourselves.
Confidence, however, does not mean we understand everything. We can question God, just as Habakkuk did; but when we question, we still trust, just as Habakkuk did.
The Pharisees and their current descendants, however, are good reminders that confidence alone does not prove the genuineness of a heart. Many people are confident in some experience they had. Others are confident in a false teaching. Still others are confident merely that they are right. None of these situations represents genuine trust. Genuine trust in God and the confidence that comes from it goes deeper. It begins in Jesus and it ends in Jesus. It breeds righteousness and spiritual boldness. It touches us inside. It results in peace, and it pleases God.
