Over Confident

I have watched a few cooking competitions lately on the Food Network.  One thing I have noticed is that Chefs tend to be over confident.  Some of them have some pretty inflated egos.  Before the competition will begin they will interview each Chef.  Each Chef then rattles off why they think they will when.  They list the school they attended or the Chefs they have apprenticed under.  They may have already had a successful restaurant under their belt.  They mention their areas of expertise.  Probably 80% of the time the Chef that starts out bragging the most ends up being booted out of the competition first.  They were over confident of their skills.  They thought no one else could beat them. 

God found His own people, the Israelites, too over confident as well.  They trusted in themselves, their wealth, their positions of power, etc.  They had stop depending on God and remembering that He had saved them from Egypt, given them a beautiful land, and protected them from their enemies.  They turned from God to whatever pleased them.  The no longer worshipped their creator, but instead worshipped what they created.  Multiple times God sent them prophets to warn them.  In Isaiah 32: 9 – 14 we read this warning:

⁹ Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Pay attention to what I say, you overconfident daughters. ¹⁰ In a little more than a year you overconfident ones will shudder, for the vintage will fail and the harvest will not come. ¹¹ Shudder, you complacent ones; tremble, you overconfident ones! Strip yourselves bare and put [sackcloth] about your waists. ¹² Beat your breasts [in mourning] for the delightful fields and the fruitful vines, ¹³ for the ground of my people growing thorns and briers, indeed, for every joyous house in the joyful city. ¹⁴ For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become barren places forever, the joy of wild asses, and a pasture for flocks,

You would think after all they had been through in Egypt and in settling their new land.  They would remember where they came from and who had gotten them there.  You would think they would remember the pride of the Egyptians and the evil they had done.  Instead they became like the Egyptians.  They worshipped idols and loved pleasure.  This mistreated the poor and oppressed their own brethren.  All things the Egyptians had done to them.  God warns them here that they are over confident.  They think nothing can come against them.  They have become complacent.  They are lovers of pleasure.  We can see this same thing going on in our Christian churches and in our world.  People are more in to what suits their schedule or their comfort levels.  They are more interested in leisure activities then serving God.  We have become complacent as a nation and complacent as God’s people.  We have forgotten who saved us.  We have become like those we were to be saved from. 

We must take warning, as well.  It is only common sense to know that God is unchanging in what He expects of His people.  We are called to worship and serve Him.  We are called to glorify Him.  We are called to reach others for Him.  We are called to build His Kingdom.  We are not called to be occupied with those things we enjoy.  We are not called to fit God in to our schedule.  We are not called to be lovers of self and of pleasure.  We are not called to ignore the poor and hurting around us.  We are not called to be over confident in our selves.  We are called to be only confident in God.

 

Over Confident

I have watched a few cooking competitions lately on the Food Network.  One thing I have noticed is that Chefs tend to be over confident.  Some of them have some pretty inflated egos.  Before the competition will begin they will interview each Chef.  Each Chef then rattles off why they think they will when.  They list the school they attended or the Chefs they have apprenticed under.  They may have already had a successful restaurant under their belt.  They mention their areas of expertise.  Probably 80% of the time the Chef that starts out bragging the most ends up being booted out of the competition first.  They were over confident of their skills.  They thought no one else could beat them. 

God found His own people, the Israelites, too over confident as well.  They trusted in themselves, their wealth, their positions of power, etc.  They had stop depending on God and remembering that He had saved them from Egypt, given them a beautiful land, and protected them from their enemies.  They turned from God to whatever pleased them.  The no longer worshipped their creator, but instead worshipped what they created.  Multiple times God sent them prophets to warn them.  In Isaiah 32: 9 – 14 we read this warning:

⁹ Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Pay attention to what I say, you overconfident daughters. ¹⁰ In a little more than a year you overconfident ones will shudder, for the vintage will fail and the harvest will not come. ¹¹ Shudder, you complacent ones; tremble, you overconfident ones! Strip yourselves bare and put [sackcloth] about your waists. ¹² Beat your breasts [in mourning] for the delightful fields and the fruitful vines, ¹³ for the ground of my people growing thorns and briers, indeed, for every joyous house in the joyful city. ¹⁴ For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become barren places forever, the joy of wild asses, and a pasture for flocks,

You would think after all they had been through in Egypt and in settling their new land.  They would remember where they came from and who had gotten them there.  You would think they would remember the pride of the Egyptians and the evil they had done.  Instead they became like the Egyptians.  They worshipped idols and loved pleasure.  This mistreated the poor and oppressed their own brethren.  All things the Egyptians had done to them.  God warns them here that they are over confident.  They think nothing can come against them.  They have become complacent.  They are lovers of pleasure.  We can see this same thing going on in our Christian churches and in our world.  People are more in to what suits their schedule or their comfort levels.  They are more interested in leisure activities then serving God.  We have become complacent as a nation and complacent as God’s people.  We have forgotten who saved us.  We have become like those we were to be saved from. 

We must take warning, as well.  It is only common sense to know that God is unchanging in what He expects of His people.  We are called to worship and serve Him.  We are called to glorify Him.  We are called to reach others for Him.  We are called to build His Kingdom.  We are not called to be occupied with those things we enjoy.  We are not called to fit God in to our schedule.  We are not called to be lovers of self and of pleasure.  We are not called to ignore the poor and hurting around us.  We are not called to be over confident in our selves.  We are called to be only confident in God.

 

What’s the Master Doing?

We spend years going to school and spend that time learning from our teachers.  We look to them as knowledgeable and experienced.  We trust their opinion.  We may go to a trade school to learn a special skill.  We expect that our trainer will teach the tricks of the trade.  We want to walk away from any learning experience prepared to be able to do a job or handle life better.  It should be the same thing in our spiritual life.  We should go to “school” at Sunday School, Worship Services, Bible Studies, Discipleship classes, time with fellow Christians expecting to grow and learn and become better prepared for our lives and our walk with the Lord.  The disciples spent 3 years with the greatest teacher there ever was.  As a matter of fact, they called him the “Master”.  They were learning from Him so that they could reach and teach others about God.  Jesus could use anything to teach.  He taught several lessons in Luke 8: 22-25.

22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

I want to focus on just one of the lessons He taught while He was in this boat with the disciples.  You might say they were silent instructions.  Pay attention to what our master is doing when the storm hits.  He is at peace and rest.  He does not let the storm bother Him.  He knows He can take care of it. The disciples on the other hand are beginning to panic.  They know the storm is bad and they begin to fear they are going to drown.  They seem to have forgotten who they were with.  After all they were following Jesus, because they thought He was the Messiah.  Yet here He was asleep.  If they really believed that He was who they thought He was, they should have realized that the Messiah was asleep and not even bothered by the storm.  That fact was a pretty big hint that it was probably all going to be ok.

This silent instruction from our Master is a pretty good one for us to pay attention to, as well.  If we believe that we are now heirs of God and children of the King, then we should be confident that God will take care of us.  We need not be afraid even when the worst storms roll in to our lives.  God will calm the storm when it is time.  We just have to have faith to ride the waves with Jesus.