Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” NIV
This morning, I looked up “confidence” in my concordance, under the assumption that it is the opposite of worry, and I wanted to see what I would find. I found verse 6, which is, no doubt, on my “fear not” list, but, I have not yet made it out of the Old Testament there.
When I read verse 6, which starts, “so, we say with confidence,” I wondered why. The phrase immediately before verse 6 is very comforting to me, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you,” but, when I went back to the beginning of verse 5, I found this warning about the love of money and being content with what you have.
The Message ties the two verses together into one thought. “Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you.” We can boldly quote, “God is there, ready to help. I’m fearless no matter what. Who or what can get to me?” MSG
Chapter 13 is the last chapter in Hebrews. It appears to be a long exhortation that the writer (maybe Paul?) is using to close his letter. When I read the whole chapter just now, it reminded me of the things that parents say to young children when they will be apart from them … “Don’t forget to wear your sweater, and play nice and share and don’t talk to strangers.”
Of course, the topics the writer addresses are much more vital, but, it is a series of reminders all the same.
It is interesting to me that being content with what we have is so closely tied to having confidence in the Lord.
I will think about that today.
365 Days of Peace 