Luke chapter 18: verses 9-14 (NIV)
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Jeremiah Chapter 17 verses 5-7 (NIV)
This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
Verse 9 of this chapter in Luke probably gives us the best reason why many of the Pharisees didn’t get what Jesus was teaching, and why He often rebuked them. Their confidence was in their own righteousness, not in God. They thought they had it made, and looked down on everyone else. They failed to learn the lesson from Jeremiah which tells us that if our confidence is in the Lord then we are the ones who will be truly blessed, whereas putting our trust in ourselves (or anyone other than God) takes us further away from Him and leads to a spiritually dry life and all the troubles that come with that.
Its so easy to find something to lean on when we need support – it can be different things for different people, but the safest and most reliable person to put our hope in is Christ. If we do so, we will never be found wanting!
Dear Lord,
Thank You that we can put our trust and confidence in You in these days of turmoil and uncertainty for the world and we will never be disappointed. Help me never to feel self assured and never to look down on anyone else. I ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen.