Last Sunday Nana fed us a meal better than money could buy anywhere as far as I’m concerned.  It was delicious!  After that, the girls were out the door to enjoy the lovely afternoon.  While they scurried around the yard, I got the step ladder to take a look at some roofing work that was done recently; all I wanted to do was take a quick look at what I had spent my money on.  It didn’t take long for Papa’s standing on the ladder to get the attention of our energetic bunch of little girls, and very quickly they were asking if they could climb up and take a look.  I agreed—it was only a six foot ladder and I was there to intervene if needed.  So one-by-one they took their turn climbing up to see the new metal on top of the back porch.  Mallory, Jaleah, and Anna Beth all went up and made it safely back to earth with no negative incidents.  Addy—the shortest one of the bunch (I wonder where she got that trait from?)—hesitantly started up so she could be like the big girls.  After stepping up a few rungs, she stopped saying that she could not see up there.  I encouraged her to go up one more step, but she wasn’t buying that; she came back down and gave up on seeing what was on top of the house.

Addyson is a pretty daring little girl, but her confidence was not strong enough to take her that far off the ground—even with Papa there to reassure and protect her.  (Maybe when she saw her mama go up the ladder it was too much for her; Jessica was quite a sight in her Sunday heels ascending to the heights like the “rest of the children”!!) 

The lack of confidence can rob us of pursuing challenges that hold potential for good results.  Sometimes we have to step out into the unknown and unfamiliar to see what is out there that can lead to great accomplishments in life.

The Bible records the reluctance of men called by God to special missions who lacked the confidence to quickly respond positively to what He was instructing them to do.  Included among them was one of the great prophets of the Old Testament—Jeremiah.  Even though God reminded Jeremiah that His hand had long been upon him, his confidence was lacking.  Jeremiah 1:4 tells us this:  “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations”” (New International Version).  How could anyone argue against that?  But Jeremiah did; he saw himself as being unable to handle the mission; his argument was that he was “only a child” (verse 6). 

Most of us will not be called to a task as great as what Jeremiah was called to, but no matter what God wants us to do, sometimes we lack confidence, and then begin to make excuses why we cannot accept the assignment.  In those times of fear and uncertainty, we can cling to the words that God spoke to Jeremiah, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord” (verse 8)

As time went on, he followed God’s call and God kept His word—He was with Jeremiah through the tough challenges that he encountered. 

Taking one more step up the ladder was more than Addy could handle; her confidence was not strong enough to move her on.  As we follow God we can keep our confidence in Him that He will be with us as we follow Him into the unfamiliar.  We can climb with confidence as we trust and obey Him.