for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
This is the message received when I was encountering a crisis of confidence. I did not have to search for it, it was the verse of the day.
Was that a coincidence or God speaking to editors at biblegateway to leave me a message for that day?
It has happened so many times over the years that any element of doubt or coincidence has been removed and has been placed in the file drawer labeled faith.
I cannot say that God loves me any more than anyone else or that I am special. I want to believe He loves us all equally.
How I feel about my Lord and His faithfulness goes beyond any issue of faith, it is personal.
We study, we believe, we find our gifts, our calling and encourage one another to do the right thing. We have fellowship with one another but that isn’t the same as our personal relationship with Christ because we are human, at least for the near future.
Why did I have that moment of crisis of confidence? I felt like I lost touch for a second with my Lord. That is all it takes, just a split second of emptiness and loneliness and I began to doubt myself, not my Lord myself.
And then the verse of the day comes and restores my soul.
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
He didn’t even have to recite the most quoted Psalm to remind me.