"Bittachon" (aka Confidence)

Hi there :)

I'll get straight to it today. 

God has given me a lot of verses lately with the word "confidence" in them. To name the 3 most frequent so far...

Jeremiah 17:7

But blessed are those who trust in The Lord and have made The Lord their hope and confidence. 

Psalm 108:1

My heart is confident in You, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart.

Micah 7:7

As for me, I look to The Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me.

The Hebrew word for confidence is "Bittachon"...

"Expresses a sense of well being and security that results from placing confident expectation in God." I want that kind of confidence!

I don't know about you but when my confidence is anywhere but in Him I completely flounder. 

Floun.der (verb)

1. Full blown internal flailing as said subject grasps unattractively for control; may cause moodiness and constant self disappointment. 

2. Discovering new depths of anxiety and creatively worrying while spinning wheels. 

3. Causes one to eat lots of chocolate cupcakes in order to self soothe. 

In all seriousness though... Where is my confidence? 

My abilities? My healthy toddler? My image? My closet contents? My plans? My bank account? My marriage? My future children? My home? My health? My mind? The idol of ME?

May this become my heart... "Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don't concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother's milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in The Lord, now and always."

Psalm 131:2-3

Texted with my friend Kimberly this morning. Asked her if she is going to give something up for Lent.  I could tell her wheels had already been spinning about this before I even asked. Our text logs go from toddler funnies to Girl Scout cookies to Heaven to stretchy pants and then maybe a littlle Revelation thrown in and usually end with an old joke... ya know, cause we are 30 now ;). Our friendship is one for the books. 

So this one ended with us giving up exercise for Lent :) we think we are hilarious. 

Seriously though. She has given up two babies that are now in Heaven. And continues giving them up everyday, along with her toddler, marriage, constant pain and current pregnancy among many other things. Kimberly doesn't just flippantly say she surrenders...she walks it out. It's inspiring to me. She really works out her salvation and digests everything through the lens of faith in Jesus.  I have been giving up Wills (for 7 months and 3 days to be exact) since we got his fatal diagnosis. I give up my toddler and marriage too. We want to live a life of constant surrender to Him. So yeah I plan to still eat chocolate and drink a root beer here or there. And continue to surrender my heart and best laid plans.

Jesus went to the wilderness and fasted for 40 days after His ministry started...

"He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness..." Luke 4:1. He was led: by...the...Spirit. Hoping and praying I'll be led by the Spirit in and through and during my own wilderness seasons of "giving up".

Another verse to chew on... 

"You have died with Christ, and He has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, 'Don't handle! Don't taste! Don't touch!'? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self denial and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires." Colossians 2:20-23

Ya know one thing I love about Jesus? He doesn't fit into anyone's box. Let's draw near to Him this season... He is certainly going to ask you to surrender. And it just may be a lot bigger and sweeter than anything we can possibly fathom. Let's anticipate His hand at work with confident expectation! 

Happy Hump Day :)

Lauren