With God There Is No Misplaced Confidence

Psalm 33:20 (ESV) … “Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.”

In Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s Treasury of David there is a story credited to Edward Calamy about a young boy who was at sea during a dangerous storm. The passengers were frightened and at their wits’ end, but he was not disturbed at all. In fact, he was even cheerful. The others asked how he could be cheerful when they seemed in danger of losing their lives. He replied that the pilot of the ship was his father, and he knew his father would take care of him.

In this life a confidence such as that might be misplaced. For, however loving and skillful a human father might be, there are always dangers in life that are beyond us, and no one is able to guarantee the physical, much less the spiritual safety of another. Yet with God there can be no misplacing of confidence, no error of trust. How could there be? God has made the entire universe by his mere word and by the breath of his mouth. He foils the evil plans, not merely of individuals but of nations. God’s purposes prevail. His plans prosper. Besides, he constantly looks upon the affairs of this world to care for his people—to bless, defend, preserve, and prosper them. No one who trusts in this God is ever disappointed. No one who waits in trusting hope will be let down. Alexander Maclaren said rightly, “Hands, lifted empty to heaven in longing trust, will never drop empty back and hang listless, without a blessing in their grasp.”[1]

[1] Boice, J. M. (2005). Psalms 1–41: An Expositional Commentary (pp. 290–291). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.