Day 23 | Growing Deep Confidence

Reflection

For many of us, Jesus’ words about building on the rock conjure up a quaint song we sang at school, or maybe the more upbeat version that’s graced many an all-age service. But to those who sat around Jesus as He delivered the Sermon on the Mount, His words evoked images of exhausted workers, the jarring sound of metal clanging on stone, and a feeling of painful vibrations working their way through the hands, up the arms, and through the whole body. Back then, if you wanted a house that could stand confidently in a storm, it meant hard, slow work. No JCBs to help.

The confidence God wants to build in you is a deep confidence. If you don’t experience this kind of confidence straight away, don’t be surprised. Don’t be disappointed. It’s important we’re always open to the possibility of God doing something big and fast because that sometimes happens. But much of the change God brings about in our lives comes through what Eugene Peterson calls ‘a long obedience in the same direction’.

So let’s approach growth in confidence in the same way we’d approach navigating across an ocean by sailboat. We’d probably like discipleship to be more like driving a speedboat: low-effort, high-speed, predictable. That would be nice. But following Jesus isn’t like that. It’s high effort, the speed varies, and we must learn to cooperate with the unpredictable wind of His Spirit.

As those building on a rock, as those sailing the ocean, let’s remain hopeful that we can – and will – grow in frontline confidence. And let’s quickly get comfortable with the idea this journey might be slow and uncomfortable.

Responding in the prayer

This day, Lord, I recalibrate my thinking.

I do not presume that everything will happen in an instant, nor do I presume nothing will happen at all. Instead, I trust in Your work – Your slow and deep work. Despite the pain, despite the boredom, despite the disappointment, I receive Your strength to keep swinging the pickaxe, to keep hoisting the sails.