“True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections”
-Jonathan Edwards

This Week

The Psalms express and teach us a lot about confidence and peace in God. David gives us two important insights in Psalm 18.

1. God’s power is evident throughout Scripture and the world around us.

David finds his confidence and peace through considering the evidence of God’s power. He looks to how he has experienced that in his own life. Then he dwells upon the evidence of God’s power in creation. Here’s the fancy theological word for what David portrays in the first half of his Psalm: omnipotence. All that means is that God is all-powerful. He can accomplish anything that does not go against his character. This is an overwhelming truth, but why does it matter to us?

2. God’s power gives confidence and peace to those who trust in Him.

The greatest source of our anxieties stems from powerlessness. We feel vulnerable to the sources of our stress, but the good news is that with God, we have the most powerful one in the entire universe on our side. David finds his confidence in the fact that his omnipotent God watches over him and empowers him for whatever lies ahead: “For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.”

We can find freedom from our anxieties and the confidence to face whatever the world throws at us if we will remember God’s power and his constant presence with us.