Christian Living

Faith or Overconfidence?

by Hezekiah Fakeye
07/11/22
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus.

The broadcast from the Voice from Zion for this week is a critical matter that we all need to take caution with. I take the scripture of note from Joshua 7:1-5.

But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. 2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the country.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” 4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

The story above tells about the defeat of the Israelites by a small city called Ai. For Bible students, we know that the defeat was because of the sin of Achan, as he took the accursed things.

But then, while I was going through this story again yesterday, the Lord opened my understanding to something crucial that we all must be careful of in our Christian voyage. It is overconfidence.

What makes overconfidence dangerous is that it looks like faith or boldness, which is the foundation for living a victorious life.
If we read the scripture above, we see that, although the Israelites were defeated because of Achan’s undoing, they went to the war with overconfidence.

When Joshua sent his men to spy on the country, they came back with a report that looks like a report of boldness and faith. They told Joshua, do not let all the people go up, let a few of us attack the city. They opined that letting the entire army go for the battle is a waste of time and resources; the city is few and doesn’t require that energy.

When I read this, I asked how they came to this conclusion. Can we attribute this to faith, as with Joshua and Caleb in Numbers 13? To me, it seems they came to this conclusion based on past achievements. They went to the battle, leaning on their understanding. They compared the city of Ai to other cities they conquered, and to them it was small; so they did not need the whole people.

Someone said, your worst enemy of success is your past achievements. This is nothing but the truth. Sometimes we let our previous achievements get into our heads that we think we don’t need to consult the Lord. We glory in our mastery. We view things from the vista of our experiences.

Although this may apply in our circular endeavours, it is not so with spiritual matters and in dealing with the Lord. God solves problems with different approaches, and no two spiritual battles answer the same approach. Therefore, Jesus neither raised all the dead with the same approach nor opened all the blind eyes in the same way. This tells us that we need to learn to inquire of the Lord.

Moses was a victim of this disease, too. When the Lord asked him to speak to the rock, he struck the rock. Most times, when we read of this error of Moses, we attribute it to anger. Truly Moses was angry when he struck the rock, but God’s primary charge against him was unbelief, not anger.

Numbers 20:12
Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

The problem was that Moses did not believe water could come out of the rock by speaking to it. But his experience helped his unbelief. He followed a tested and trusted pattern against the word of God. At least, he had struck the rock before and it yielded results. So, why take a chance with an untested method?
I believe if the command to speak to the rock was the first time with the intention to bring water out of the rock, Moses would not have struck the rock, no matter how angry he was. Striking the rock came to his mind because of his experience and achievement.

Anytime we act based on experiences and not on God’s word, we are not acting in faith. That’s self-confidence. Faith is always attached to the word of God because faith is only furnished by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
If we read Joshua 8 verse 1, we discover that the people’s confidence had no root in the word of God. And that’s the reason we cannot call it faith.

Now the Lord said to Joshua: “Do not be afraid, not be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise and go up to Ai…” (Joshua 8:1)

After sin was dealt with, when the Lord instructed them on how the city would be conquered, the instruction was “take all the people of war with you…”, meanwhile, they went with a few people. God needed all the people, they felt there was no need for that.

That God’s verdict differed from the people’s opinion shows that they didn’t conclude according to God’s word. It was an assertion derived by leaning on their understanding and experience.

As Christians, we must be watchful of this hidden but deadly spiritual infection. It contributed to Moses’ failure and the Israelites’ defeat at Ai. It has the same effect on our lives. Our trust must always be in the Lord, and not in ourselves or past achievements.

Shalom!
Your brother,

Olufemi Fakeye