Right and Wrong Self-Confidence-Part 2

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MW Editor’s Note. Hopefully, you caught Part 1 of guest author Wayne Spencer’s series on self-confidence. You can find that link here.

What do you ultimately depend on?  As Christians, we must learn to put our confidence in God, not in ourselves or anything in this fallen world.  Jesus points to the mindset we should have in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  This continues our look at examples of right and wrong self-confidence.

Naaman

An interesting example of the wrong kind of self-confidence is Naaman, from 2 Kings 5:1-19.  During the time of Elisha the prophet, the kingdom of Aram was North of Israel, and they likely had a stronger army than Israel.  The commander of their army was Naaman, and he was a very accomplished warrior and was likely well paid and was used to being treated as an important person, but he had leprosy.  He had a slave girl who had been taken from Israel.  The girl told him to go to Elisha the prophet, and he could be healed.  So Naaman treats it as if he is going on a major diplomatic mission.  He sends a letter to the King of Israel and sets out on the journey.  He takes with him 750 pounds of silver and 150 pounds of gold, along with other items.  He thinks that he must pay for the healing, either to the King of Israel or to the prophet.  In those days, it was common for a prophet to ask for payment for something.  But that’s not how Elisha responded.  

The King of Israel was alarmed, thinking this could start a war with Aram.  But Elisha hears of it and tells the King of Israel to go ahead and send Naaman to him.  Elisha did not want to feed Naaman’s pride, and he didn’t even go out to meet Naaman.  He only told Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times.  This was seen as humiliating to Naaman.  Though he resisted at first, he did wash and was healed.  He offered gifts to Elisha, but Elisha did not accept them.  

Naaman had confidence because of who he was and his own accomplishments and status.  We get a clue of Naaman’s attitude because of how he reacted when Elisha told him to wash in the Jordan seven times.  Naaman at first goes away in a rage, saying, “ ‘Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?’ So he turned and went off in a rage.(2 Kings 5:12)”  But then Naaman’s servants spoke to him, saying, ‘if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.(2 Kings 5:13-14)”  

Naaman compared the Jordan River in Israel to the rivers in his own country.  But the important thing was not the river; it was to humble himself before God.  So Naaman learned what the true God was like, and what a true servant of God was like (Elisha).  God could remove our abilities at any time if he wanted to.  It was important that Naaman realize he could not buy God’s favor with material possessions, and the prophet Elisha was not looking for any gain.  After being healed, Naaman told Elisha he would never offer sacrifices to any other god but the Lord.  Also, Naaman wanted to take back to his home some soil from Israel.  So, Elisha told him to “go in peace.”

The account has a good ending for Naaman, but there is a sad ending for Elisha’s servant, Gehazi.  Gehazi thought Elisha should have asked for something from Naaman.  Gehazi got greedy and lied to Naaman about Elisha.  He lied for his own selfish gain.  Gehazi also had the wrong kind of confidence.  He thought he could get away with a “little lie” to Naaman because of his relationship with Elisha.  For this, Elisha told Gehazi that Naaman’s leprosy would cling to him and his descendants forever!

David

A classic example of confidence of the right kind is David, as a young man, when he faced the giant Goliath.  First, the Bible does not present the account of David and Goliath as symbolic or mythical.  We should take it literally.  Just because we don’t see people like Goliath today doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been possible in the past.  

The entire story is in 1 Samuel 16 and 17.  David was younger than his brothers, so his brothers were in the Israelite army under King Saul.  David’s brothers did not seem to respect him, but their father, Jesse, sent David to take food to his brothers.  David hears how Goliath was challenging the army of Israel, and no one was willing to face him.  There are a couple of observations we should make about David.  First, David was thinking about God’s glory, not himself, though his brothers seemed to misunderstand him.  We can see this in David’s statement, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?(1 Samuel 17:26)”  This shows David’s faith in God.  David saw past the obvious facts about the armies.  It didn’t look good for the Israelite army.  They had been in a standoff for more than a month without being willing to start the battle!  King Saul tried to dissuade David from facing Goliath.  

The second observation is that David trusted God because David had faced challenges before.  He had fought off lions and bears when they attacked the sheep.  He said, “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.(1 Samuel 17:34-37)”  So, when David faced Goliath, he not only had practiced with the sling, but he had also practiced trusting God.  David also had confidence enough to tell Goliath to his face what was about to happen.  “David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.’(1 Samuel 17:45-46)“  David went on to say, “. . .the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.”  Only God could have given David such confidence. 

 If God can help a shepherd boy like this, He can help us face whatever challenges we meet.