This morning I begin a study of the word “confidence”. I start with a passage in Job and see that I am to have confidence from the LORD and the fear of Him.

“⁵But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;

it touches you, and you are dismayed.”

— Job 4:5 (ESV)

Look at the words of Eliphaz the Temanite above to Job. It is natural for us to feel subjected to many a difficult time and circumstance. And this can lead to doubt and fear. We are going to feel all that is bad and ugly as though it is directed at us. Society and the world does not understand and that lack of understanding creates fear in their own life and they want for all to feel the same way.

“⁶Is not your fear of God your confidence,

and the integrity of your ways your hope?”

— Job 4:6 (ESV)

Now we have fear as well, yet that fear is in the LORD and instead of allowing it and the world of society to create doubt and fear in us, it should create confidence beyond understanding. With the fear of the LORD and the confidence that comes, we are to be strong like a lion and get out into the world.

“¹⁰The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,

the teeth of the young lions are broken.

¹¹The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.”

— Job 4:10-11 (ESV)

The lion is not deterred by the world. They will continue until there is no more way to continue. Notice that they will “perish for lack of prey”. That is not that we are to seek others as prey, but more that we are to continue with the confidence of the lion in that there is nothing that can be overcome.

The lion continues providing and protecting and caring for their world and we should be doing the same. We cannot let the world defeat us. We have to go through the world with the confidence that we will overcome. That confidence comes from our fear of the LORD. When we tap into that confidence we will not be defeated.

What does your confidence look like? Are you confident in only a few things? What if you were like the lion and had confidence in all things and drew on the confidence that you get from your fear of the LORD?