Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
Humans are “social beings” and we need the support of social connections for our emotional and mental wellbeing. We need the comfort of family and friends to develop self-confidence, self-esteem and self-awareness. Isolation pushes people into depression and anxiety disorders. However, when people become our refuge we have our security in the wrong place. Confidence in man will disappoint us and drown us into insecurity.
The best of friends can turn into betrayers. Family can turn into foes and people whom we have loved, cared and served might turn into envious enemies because humans are fallible. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17). God uses people to shape and sharpen us but transferring our confidence to man is idiocy. The Lord God uses human hands to bless us but He is still the Giver. The humans through whom the blessings flow are only catalysts that carry the blessing. God is the source, so never shift the honour from the source to the resource. The means/resource will dry up but the source never lacks.
Placing our trust in people is dangerous. The same people who share our success will pull the carpet under our feet. Enjoy the company, comfort and care of people but never put your confidence in man.
“Insecurity is security in the wrong place”.
Confidence in man:
1. Prioritize: Put God first. Prioritizing the precepts and godly principles above people breaks the security that we build on people. People, parents, priests, pastors or even prophets may fail but His precepts stand forever. The principle of “God First” breaks the “confidence in man”.
2. Please: The truth is that it is impossible to please people all the time. Pleasing people is a bondage that will limit us and make us lose ourselves. The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe (Proverbs 29:25). “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time” – President Lincoln.
3. People: People are mere humans who will change like a drifting wind. The same friends who appreciate you today will depreciate you tomorrow. The ones who encourage and applaud will also be the ones who discourage and defame. The only stable security we have is in the unchanging nature of God who loves us unconditionally.
Confidence in man is dangerous and will push us into depression, anxiety and even eating disorders but trust in the Lord will give us security, comfort and rest.
Numbers 21:19a God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Prayer: Father God, help me to be set free from the fear of man. With you, the King of Kings is on my side, and with all of heaven backing me up, what can man do to me? Amen.
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