Courage and confidence

But a man who believes in God trains himself to put his trust in God alone. But it can happen that sometimes one forgets and yet God will not abandon such a one and will come to his aid when he asks for it in humble prayer. A good example is the story of Samson from the book of Judges from the Bible (Read chapters 13 to 16). He lived at a time when the Philistines were dominating Canaan in Palestine many centuries ago. This Judge, patriot was strong and though he was on the wanted list of the Philistines kept defeating them again and again giving them endless trouble. Finally, by a ruse and bribery, they got hold of him gauged his eyes and demeaned him in every possible way.

They wished to celebrate their victory by tying him to the main pillar of their huge hall where they were holding the victory celebration. Up until then Samson had relied on his physical strength and had been captured; now he relied on God and prayed to him and his strength returned one last time to bring the whole structure down and spoil the sport of the Philistines and also show that one who relies on God will always be victorious.

There are also times when we too could become complacent and rely only on our strength or goodness, forgetting the God who strengthens us and enables us to do all that is good. We can get carried away by our successes to think that we did all these by our wisdom and power. Then comes a day when we regret our presumption and realise that whatever good we had been doing was by his power alone. It could happen that suddenly we find that whatever we plan does not succeed; the opposition may be strong; our life work may be destroyed or at least on the verge of collapse. What do we do then? Should we allow ourselves to sink into dark despair? Or should we regain our composure by saying to ourselves that God in whom we trusted will not abandon us but will come to our assistance? The Psalmist always has such a confidence: “Incline thy ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly; save thy servant who trusts in thee” (Psalm 86.1-2).

It is with this kind of trust the good man survives all his trials. So why despair? When we declare our poverty and helplessness before God he is sure to help us! This is a very common recurring theme in the Bible. It is when we are proud and think that we can manage on our own we begin to fail and fail miserably at times but when we acknowledge our powerlessness and say to God that only he can help us, he raises the humble one and gives him the success that he desired. Put your trust in him and go ahead in your work. You will succeed if indeed it is his holy will.