Confident

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     Flip to Jeremiah 1:4-10 in your Bible or pull it up on your phone and soak it in! These verses spoke straight to my heart today. Here's the snippet from my perspective:
     Before Jeremiah was even born, God had a purpose for his life. God's purpose for Jeremiah: to be a prophet. (I mean, that's a pretty big deal. Can you say pressure?!) So after God tells Jeremiah this, Jeremiah, who was quite possibly in a state of shock and confusion at this point of the story, responds something like this: "But...God, I can't be a prophet. I mean, I'm too young to lead people. I'm not even good at talking to people."
     May I just stop here to make a confession? I am right there in Jeremiah's shoes. I have, more than once, experienced the feelings of self-doubt, inadequacy, and fear that I imagine he is feeling here. How often do I use the excuse of being too young? All. the. time. As 15 year-old girl, the lie that I am incompetent to do anything but school, watch movies, and paint my nails all-too-often sneaks into my head, and I sulk as my list of limitations scrolls through my head:
  • I can't drive 
  • I still live with my parents 
  • I don't have a real job 
  • I'm in high-school 8 hours a day 
     What can I really do? But just as God tells Jeremiah, I have found that the question that I should really be asking myself is, with Him, What can't I do? The Almighty God is right beside me, holding my hand. What is there to fear? When I feel God calling me to something bigger than myself, is there really any good excuse for not jumping in head-first?
     Okay, back to our story. So then God said something like this to Jeremiah: "Don't say that you're too young! You have to go where I send you, and say what I tell you, and I promise that I will be right there the whole time. Trust me, and I promise I won't let you fall."
Two Commands:
  1. GO where I lead 
  2. SPEAK what I tell you to 
     I used to have a real confidence problem, but here's what I've learned about confidence. I should be confident, not because "I've got it", not because I am prepared, not because I am ready, but because I know Who sent me. Not to rain on your parade, but you will never be good enough. You will never be able to deserve Christ, no matter what you do or how hard you try. Any confidence you have in yourself will eventually crumble to dust at your feet. You cannot be confident in yourself, but you can be confident in this: God loves you-broken, hurt, messed up you-and He will never abandon you.
     Don't let anyone tell you that you are not strong enough, you are not old enough, you are not good enough, because through Christ, you are. Don't let anything hold you back from going where God leads, or speaking His words.The day I finally crawled out of my pit of fear and insecurity was the day I realized the saying shouldn't be "Be confident in who you are." Rather, it should be "Be confident in Whose you are."
   





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