For you have been my hope, Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you.
We all want what’s best for our children. At least we should. We are commanded to want their best. You see, my daughter is an elite level gymnast. It’s something that she loves and it’s something that she is really good at. Now, while she is naturally gifted at it, she has also worked extremely hard to get to the level she’s at today. It may sound silly, but right before she competes in her events, I always pray to God, “please let her do her best.” But, this verse reminds me of her attitude today. You see, just today, February 17, 2024, my daughter had a national level event that we drove 6 hours to get to and after the event, we drove 6 hours back home. Of course, as most parents probably feel, I was super nervous before my daughter competed. I try my hardest not to show this, and I push it all down and I put on my “game face.” Because, in my mind, if my daughter sees me nervous, it’s going to make her nervous. If she sees me calm, she remains calm…in theory. So I’m joking with her, making her laugh and keeping her distracted. However, my daughter and I have a very special bond and we can sense what each other are feeling most of the time. My daughter grabs my hand and looks me straight in my eyes and says to me, “don’t worry dad, I got this!” Confidence! Our confidence is not of this world or of ourselves, this verse tells us that confidence comes from our Lord above. At that moment, the confidence that the Lord gave to my daughter, He in turn gave to me. I remembered the passage “if you train up a child the way they should to go, they will not depart from it.” And at that moment, I heard my Heavenly Father say to me, “this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” The question you have to ask yourself is, do you think you are good enough, worthy, wonderful, and confident in who God created you to be? The answer is, and always should be, yes. You are all of those things in the eyes of your Father above. Let us choose not to align our thoughts and actions with what other people think, but with God alone, who is worthy of our praise and always will be our confidence.
Spiritual Steve 