Overconfidence

The Danger of Overconfidence

Joshua 17:13

"Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them out."

A disturbing statement is said about the children of Israel when God says that they didn't drive out the inhabitants; instead, "...they put the Canaanites to tribute;..." This statement reeks of overconfidence. The children of Israel thought they could handle those whom they had not conquered because they were so confident in themselves; however, they did not realize that their overconfidence blinded them to the fact that disobedience to God's Word should never be tolerated. They thought past victories guaranteed them the strength to handle those whom they should have defeated. Their overconfidence led them to become lazy instead of being vigilant, which eventually led to their bondage to those whom they should have destroyed.

Let me be very clear, I understand the importance of being confident in all that you do. Leaders must be confident in what their doing if they are going to succeed. Churches must be confident if they are going to succeed in reaching the lost for Christ. Business owners must be confident in their product and service if they are going to succeed when others fail. Confidence is one of the most important ingredients you will find in successful people.

However, overconfidence will lead one to destruction. Overconfidence comes from an over estimation of one's self. You will find a person becomes overconfident when they think more highly of themselves and their abilities than they should. You may have had some success, but past success should not cause you to think that you are better than others and stronger than what you really are. You must be careful to keep a proper estimation of yourself and your abilities to keep you from becoming overconfident.

Moreover, overconfidence gives you a false assurance of future success. You will find that people who are overconfident will assume that they will succeed because they succeeded in the past. Past successes don't guarantee future success. The effort, methods and hard work that brought success in the past will secure success in the future.

Furthermore, overconfidence will blind you to your own weaknesses. When a person becomes overconfident, they begin to think that they have no weakness. Overconfident people always see others as the problem and not themselves. When overconfidence blinds you, you will stop working on the areas where you are weak.

Let me warn you from becoming overconfident in yourself. Always keep past successes in their proper perspective: they are in the past. Any future success will be determined by what you do right now. Keep the proper perspective that at best you are still a sinner and are capable of making mistakes. Simply put, to keep from becoming overconfident, keep your eyes off yourself and place them on Christ and others. That is the key to always keeping yourself in proper perspective.

Success can breed overconfidence and eventual failure; or it can humble you that God would allow you to be able to help others. Daily ask God to help you to keep a proper perspective of yourself. When others brag on you, listen to it for a couple of seconds, then forget about it. Those who brag on you now will attack you later if you don't keep doing what you are supposed to do. Don't let overconfidence be your eventual destruction.

Silence

Silence Please

Joshua 6:10

"And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout."

What a strange command God gave to Joshua and the children of Israel when He told them not to make any noise while they walked around the walls of Jericho. It would seem that the more noise they made the more the intimidation factor would play on the minds of the people in Jericho. Yet, I believe that God wanted His people quiet so that He could speak to them while they were walking around the walls. This journey around the walls was not just an exercise of intimidation, but I believe it was supposed to be a spiritual exercise for Israel to let God speak to their hearts.

When you look in the Scriptures, you find that God speaks to the hearts of men when they are quiet. Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Notice, the acknowledgment of God's power does not happen when there is noise, but it happens when you are silent. When you still yourself and everything around, that is when you see the power of God work.

It was in the time of quiet that God spoke to Elijah. 1 Kings 19:12 says, "And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." When Elijah ran from Jezebel because of self-pity, it was then that God sent an earthquake and fire, but He was not in these. It was when everything got quiet that Elijah heard the voice of the LORD. It was in the quiet time that God had the opportunity to speak.

When God spoke to Samuel in his childhood, it was not during the daytime when all the noise was around him, but it was in the quiet of night when God spoke to Samuel. God spoke to Samuel while he was in bed, and the noise of the hustle and bustle of those around him was gone. It was then that he heard the voice of the LORD. Samuel could not hear God's voice in the noise, but he heard His voice when it was quiet.

Our society is accustomed to having noise about us. When you go to the restaurant, at times the music is so loud that you have to ask the waitress to turn it down. When people are in their cars, you often see them playing music loudly. When walking down the street, you see people with earpieces in their ears listening to music. People just don't like it when there is silence. When there is silence most people become uncomfortable.

Christian, you need to learn to have a regular time of silence so that God can speak to your heart. You will find in the quiet time that God will reveal Himself to you in a way you have never seen before. It is when I silence everything around me that God often speaks to my heart. Some of the most spiritual times you will have is when you learn to spend time meditating on God in silence. Let me challenge you to have a regular time when you turn everything off for a few minutes so that God can speak. I have found the best time to do this is after reading the Scriptures. Break the bad habit of always having noise, and learn to let God speak to you in the time of silence.

Benefits

Benefits of Chastisement

Deuteronomy 11:2

"And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,"

A person would rarely think that chastisement could be a blessing. The word "chastisement" means, to rebuke or reprimand severely. Chastisement normally brings thoughts of bad connotations. It normally brings thoughts of some time in your life when someone chastised you for something you did.

However, God shows us that chastisement is not a bad thing. In fact, when you look at the verse above, you realize that God chastises those who have a relationship with Him. You must understand that there is a difference between chastisement and judgement. A person who has no relationship with God will never receive chastisement, they will only see the judgement of God. On the other hand, a person who has a relationship with God can be chastised and judged, but God's first action is always chastisement. You find that there are benefits to God's chastisement.

First, God's chastisement allows you to see His greatness. In other words, God chastises you when you place something or someone above Him. One of the purposes of chastisement is to get you to keep a right perspective of yourself, others and God. God should always be the greatest in your life, and any time you lower your estimation of God, He must chastise you so that you can see His greatness.

Second, God's chastisement allows you to see His mighty hand. Why would a person lose a proper estimation of God? Because they forgot how mighty He is. Unfortunately, God must constantly remind us of His might so that we don't lose proper perspective. When you forget how mighty God is, then He must chastise you so that you don't hurt yourself.

Third, God's chastisement allow you to see His mercy. There are times when God's chastisement comes after we know we have done wrong. It is in these times when God chastises us to remind us that He still wants to keep a relationship with us. His chastisement is more to help us remember His mercy than it is to correct us. The reason being is because when we know we have done wrong, we have probably already corrected ourselves to the point that we will wonder if God still wants us. So, God must bring us in for chastisement for the sole purpose to remind us of His mercy.

What a wonderful reminder of how to act when we chastise those whom we lead. Whether you are a parent, pastor, boss, management or leader in a church ministry, you should use chastisement for the sole purpose of bringing a person back to where they should be so that you can continue having a good relationship. The purpose of chastisement should not be to hurt, but it should be to keep a good working relationship with that person.

If you are the beneficiary of chastisement from authority, don't take it as a personal attack. Realize that authority must chastise you at times when you do wrong so that your relationship can continue. Don't let chastisement seem evil to you, but take it as a sign from authority that they love you and want the best for you. Your perspective of chastisement will determine how you take it. So, keep the proper perspective so that you don't become bitter, because the next step after chastisement is judgement. Allow chastisement to build your relationship with authority, so that you can live a productive and happy life.

Disloyalty

Managing Disloyalty

Numbers 16:26

"And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins."

Disloyalty never makes sense. Disloyalty is normally caused by a jealous follower who wants the position of the leader without paying the price of that position. They want everything handed to them without having to earn it. Literally, it is a lazy, selfish person who desires the position that is not rightfully theirs.

Unfortunately, we learn how to deal with disloyalty through the life of Moses. Moses was one of the greatest leaders you will learn about in the Scriptures. He was the epitome of how a leader should lead. You would think that everyone would be pleased with his leadership, but we find this was not the case. Korah gathered a group of people against Moses and told him in verse 3, "...Ye take too much upon you,..." Korah thought that Moses didn't have the right to lead the way that God told him to lead. Korah's disloyalty affected several people and their families, because they eventually lost their lives. When studying this story, God shows us how to manage the sin of disloyalty.

First, leaders should deal with disloyalty promptly. God did not wait for the disloyalty to work its way out. I have found many leaders make the mistake of thinking that the disloyal person will eventually come around, to their own detriment. When you see disloyalty, you must deal with it immediately. The longer you allow disloyalty, the more time you give to the person who is disloyal to influence more innocent people.

Second, in person you must approach the disloyal person about their disloyalty. Moses didn't send Joshua or some other person to deal with the disloyalty, but he went himself to deal with it. Leaders must not be afraid to deal with disloyalty face to face. If you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing from which to hide. Many leaders won't deal with disloyalty because they don't like confrontation, but as a leader you must confront the disloyal person about their disloyalty so that you can quickly squelch its roots.

Third, you must deal with disloyalty to the degree of the disloyalty. Because Korah's disloyalty was very open, God dealt with it in an open manner by killing Korah and his followers. The more open a person's disloyalty is, the more open you must be in dealing with disloyalty. If you catch disloyalty before it becomes public, then you can deal with it in a private matter; however, when a person is publicly disloyal, you must then deal with that person in a public manner. This will show others that disloyalty will not be tolerated at any level.

Last, followers must not associate themselves with a disloyal person. God told everyone to get away from Korah and his followers. He told them not to "touch" anything that belonged to them. When you see someone is disloyal, you must stop having any association with them. You may think you can handle their disloyalty, but it will eventually affect your spirit, which will eventually affect your actions.

Christian, be careful that you don't get caught up in the sin of disloyalty. Disloyalty is like leprosy in that if it is not dealt with it will spread, and if you come into contact with it, you will be affected by it as well. If you will learn to always keep your eyes on God and follow Him then you will find that you will never be caught up in the sin of disloyalty.