In my Bible study group, we are studying a book on “Steps to Answered Prayer.” Last week we were given an assignment; find out what God wants to give you and ask Him for it. The Bible clearly states that when we ask in accordance with His Word, He will give us what we ask for. So, I asked God what He wanted to give me. His answer was, “Confidence”. I thought that was a good idea. I often come across as very confident, but truthfully, I do struggle in that area. I needed to do some searching to find out more about this ‘confidence’ God wanted to give me. First, I went to the dictionary: Confidence- trust, reliance, assurance, belief in ones own ability. And I thought, “Great, I do want to be more confident in what I can do.” This was a good start, yet I needed to check out what the Bible had to say about confidence. The first reference I came to asked a question; II Kings 18:19 – ‘on what are you basing your confidence?’ “Wow, that is a good question – I better keep digging.”

• II Chronicles 32:8 …with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people gained confidence from what the king said.
• Psalm 118:18 – It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
• Proverbs 3:25, 26 – Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence…
• Jeremiah 17:7 – But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.
• Ephesians 3:12 – In Him (Jesus) and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
• Hebrews 13:6 – So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

There were more references, yet not one of them had anything to say about how to gain confidence in myself. They all pointed to having trust, reliance, and assurance on who God is and on what He will do for me and through me. My heavenly Father wants to develop my confidence in Him and His Word. I John 5:14,15 – “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.” So I prayed, “Father, I ask You to develop in me, confidence in You. I thank You for it, in Jesus’ name. Amen”

For Easter this year, our church learned a new song. It was written decades ago by Chuck Lawrence and is entitled “He Grew the Tree”. The song speaks of the deep love of God demonstrated by the fact that, as the Creator, He deliberately grew the tree that would be cut down and fashioned into the cross where Jesus died to pay for our sins. As the song was being sung, I looked around and noticed tears in the eyes of many in the congregation. We were deeply moved by the suffering and sacrifice Jesus made for us and so incredibly thankful for God’s amazing grace.

I have given a lot of thought to it this week and wonder if there may be more at work in the song than I first realized. Did God the Father take special care when He planted the seed that would become the old rugged cross? Was there a smile on His face since He knew what would be possible because of what would be accomplished there? When molding the hill of Calvary, was there anticipation in the air for the symbol of hope the hill represents? When watering the plant for the crown of thorns, was He satisfied knowing every drop of blood from the brow, hands and feet of Jesus would be a covering to redeem man back to Himself?

There may have been pain in the heart of God for the need of the crucifixion cross for Jesus, but I think there was also joy and excitement for the life changing experience that would occur for believers on resurrection morning! He had the whole picture, and He is excited to have us back into friendship with Him! The relationship mankind had before the fall into sin, has been restored by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Now every day can be filled with the excitement and joy of Easter morning!!