The Confident Life

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23:6

There seems to be two different types of response to Jesus, among those who hold Him in some esteem.

One is to respect Him and to admire Him, and to say all sorts of nice things about Him, and even to accept Him as One who blesses us, but to fall short of bowing before Him in utter humility of heart. These are the “sheep” that try to peer with the Shepherd, and such an attitude never truly results in the confidence of heart described here. I truly feel sorry for the people who fall here, they are those spoken of as “ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). And many think that they are wise in their attitude — wiser than others, most often. Despite their education, or perhaps on some level because of it, in the name of openness and exploration, or the educational process or the general progression of society, they see the Good Shepherd as less than He should be. They mistake curiosity for repentance, and whether or not they have true “saving faith” is a matter for God alone to resolve. I suspect that some do and others do not, but only God knows.

The other attitude is to come to Him in utter humility and faith, depending on Him and not on ourselves. Let’s be honest, to be in line with the truth of this psalm requires an attitude of repentance and faith. He is the shepherd and we are the sheep, and not His peers. As Psalm 100:3 proclaims:

Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

The one who believes, believes in Christ, not in some principle of character or of educational pursuit. We must come to Him as needy creatures and trust in Him as the Savior, Redeemer, Protector, and Shepherd. The heart that trusts in the Lord as the Good Shepherd, as the One who feeds, waters, guides, and protects His sheep, that is the soul that can say with confidence that God’s mercy and love shall always follow him.

To those who do come to Him in this humility, there is a new confidence of heart given, that nothing shall separate us from the Savior’s love. The other attitude hangs too tightly to one’s own wit, or to the cleverness of the sheep, and, as such, inevitably injects and inbreeds within the thought processes the attitudes of doubt and insecurity. Too many today come to say, “The Lord is my sheep, and I will correct his theology, and I will be a shepherd to his legacy.” And in so doing they forfeit the promise of this psalm.

Faith, if it is to be life-changing and truly biblical, must be invested in Christ totally, and not in ourselves. This is the faith Peter described when he said, “Lord, to whom else will we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). The sheep that keeps running off thinks that he knows more than the shepherd, or he does not trust the shepherd, and he remains in insecurity. The sheep that trusts the Good Shepherd rests in Him and rejoices in Him. He does not ask, “How far from the Shepherd may I run and still be considered part of the flock?” Rather he asks, “How close to the Shepherd may I come and stand and live?”

And this leads to repentance, cleansing, deeper faith, more love, greater devotion, confidence, and eternal joy. “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7).