Confussion

The easiest thing to be and the oldest trick in the book is confusion. We’ve all been there, “Where am I?”, “What is this?”, “Who is that?” Confusion is a scary place to be because you don’t feel in control. You feel helpless and even scared at times. Many times, confusion can lead to stress and even wrong choices. Just like it happened with the first people who were filled with confusion because of a entity causing delusion, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” The serpent (aka Satan) asked one question and got an answer from the woman, “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” God didn’t not tell Eve shouldn’t couldn’t touch it but that she couldn’t eat it. Then the devil threw in this clencher, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. ´ This was the first people’s test of devotion. Satan was already kicked out of Heaven and his abode was on the earth. Satan couldn’t stand this new creation of God and their devotion to God was probably sickening to him. So, he slithered his way to Eve. He slyly added to God’s words and told Eve lies in which sounded true to her ears.  She saw the tree in its beauty and splendor and faced a decision, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Eve was deceived, Adam knew the consequences and ate anyways. Their error of their ways showed when they realized they were shamed.  “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Genesis 3:1-7.” Confusion is the devil’s game. He knows how to do it so subtly we may not notice at first. It may be a little excuse there, a little white lie there, and the next thing we know we’re not where we used to be. Adam and Eve were tight with God, they were friends who talked to each other but after their downfall, that friendship suffered greatly. They were no longer in the presence of God, they were no longer walking together, they were separated because of confusion. Eve could’ve said no. Adam could’ve refused. They could’ve asked God. But none of these things happened. Instead they took it upon themselves to stay the course they set out for themselves and stay in confusion.

Confusion is hard because you are trying to find your bearings, it’s like being lost at sea with no sight of land. You feel like you’re drowning and cannot find your way. You paddle this way and that way, but nothing is right anymore. Confusion causes stress and anxiety and can lead to careless mistakes and restless nights. “My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, Psalms 44:15.” When you are confused about something it consumes you, drains you and extends you. You feel unworthy to do anything because you have no idea what to do. Especially if it’s an important decision that can affect your future, but every decision can no matter how small. This doesn’t mean to make a haste decision either. I know this sounds crazy, but it isn’t, waiting on God’s will and timing is important and shouldn’t lead you into confusion. However, some people jump to make a bad decision that can ruin their lives by not considering God’s will. This happened to some people who were dead-set against God and wanted their own way to Heaven. “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:1-9.” These people were all of one speech and language and didn’t believe God but believed in gods they created with their own hands. They thought they were smart but found out they were not when God confounded them (confused) them. They were all of one language which made their intelligence greater, but wickedness was also rampant and overwhelming. God put a stop to it quick like with giving everyone different ways of speaking and this ended up causing division and people of like speech to group together. Talk about a confusing time! You’re all speaking one language and then all of a sudden, your friend is speaking totally different! Then you hear another person speaking but not understand a word that comes out of their mouth! You hear someone speaking that you understand, and you run towards them and ask them “What is happening?” They have no idea either but then everyone else that understands you and the other person come flocking together and you have a group of people of the same language amongst others who are speaking other languages. I’m sure fights broke out over disagreements and misunderstandings quickly! So, everyone found somewhere to go to get away from the drama and headache. They dispersed and became their own nations and countries with their own custom and cultures. They carried some of their pagan beliefs with them too. Talk about a truly confusing time! Even the Bible says they will be confused, “Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods. Psalms 97:7.” The images made with men’s hands can do nothing. That is why people get confused, they are serving the wrong god. They are serving themselves, money, idols, power, or whatever and that is why that life is so chaotic and stressful because it’s not based on God but based off the greed of need.  David emphasizes, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield. Psalms 115:1-9.” Trusting in idols won’t get anyone anywhere but trouble and sadness for they cannot hear neither can they help the situation. However, God Almighty is living, breathing, cares and loves us! He doesn’t want us to be confused or confounded but firm and steady in our beliefs and thoughts! The Bible counsels us, “For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Isaiah 50:7.” Flint is a hard rock and that is what we should be like, not letting the things of the world bother us but letting God handle them! “In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. Psalms 71:1-4.” It’s easy to be confused by the world and their slick words and ideas. Sometimes they can be so close to the truth we cannot spot the lie or the falsehood behind it but God can and can take us down the right path if we let Him but sadly many of us are too stubborn and set our faces like stone against God’s will and going about our own ways, just like Adam and Eve—ignoring God out of our own ignorance.

There is hope if you want to follow God there are measures you can take to ensure you won’t be confused, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places .Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:10-13.” The whole armor of God is what we need, and it is listed piece by piece in Ephesians and we need to put each piece on with prayer as it tells us to withstand the wickedness! We hardly ever fight someone hand to hand but it’s more of a mental fight and that is what the devil does, he messes with our minds to say, “Yea hath God said?” he tries to sneak doubt and suspension into our minds that God isn’t strong enough, good enough, loving enough or just enough.

The devil even tried to confuse Jesus. Yes, I laugh too, but he had to be tested too. Jesus hadn’t ate for forty days and was very weary and worn from being in the wilderness. You know when your hungry things change! You get agitated and your will is broken almost, “Fine whatever, as long as I eat!” right? I don’t know if Jesus had that attitude, but we can be sure he wasn’t feeling too good and then here comes the devil, he likes to be around food for some reason, Eve and the fruit, Jesus when He’s fasting…hmmm. But we can learn a lot from this interaction, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Matthew 4:1-11.” Even though He was really hungry, tired and weak, He knew the right answers, He knew who was God, He knew that He’d rather have God than anything and we should be the same. Don’t let the devil mess with your mind and steal your joy, your peace and your faith. Let God give you what you need when you need it at the time you need it most! As this scripture gives us something to remember; “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. 1 Corinthians 14:33.” God doesn’t want you confused in your mind. He wants you to have peace. So, what that plan didn’t work out? God has a plan for you! Maybe though you stepped ahead of God and that temptation was so great from the devil you find yourself biting into sin before you realized you had it before you. That’s easy to do when people are around you trying to mess with you with their drama or even the drama you create yourself, it becomes chaos and confusion very quick! James knew what was up when he wrote, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. James 3:16.” Where jealousy and contention are, you bet there’s going to be confusion. But we can let God handle that too. Like David says to those who are seeking him hurt because he follows God, “Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me. Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long. Psalms 35:26-28.” If you are following God and confused, something is wrong, either you are listening to the world too much or are letting things bother you. It’s okay, we’ve all been there. This isn’t to beat you up but to help you live less cluttered and confused. It’s easy to become confused and it happens before we even realize it (maybe that’s why they call it confusion!). All we need to do is seek God. If we’ve fallen away, we need to ask forgiveness in humility of spirit as 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God will forgive us, if it’s something we’ve done in our past way back there that has led us down a path of confusion and chaos, God can forgive that too and set you on a path that is righteous and true, but you’ve got to stay on the path! Don’t deviate, don’t make excuses, don’t justify, don’t just go check it out, leave it be and let God lead you! Like Psalms 23:1-4 says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” That valley of the shadow of death? That could be a lot of things for many of us. It could be the shadows and cobwebs of confusion. It could be the fear of what is to come but we know with God we are safe in His arms because He comforts us.  David knew what both sides are like, he’s been there, he looked down the path of sin-into that valley-got it’s address and visited a time or two and paid for it dearly so he knows what he’s talking about but he also repented, he changed his mind and decided to go with God instead of against Him. We can have faith in the scriptures that what God says, He means, it doesn’t change because of a select few sinners or a select few who are saints, “Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. Isaiah 54:4.” Our past does not have to be our undoing. It can be our testimony, our stepping stone but not our wallowing pit as tempting as it may be.  If we want to be truly free from confusion and have clarity and comfort, we need to look to the only one who can give it to us, and it surely isn’t ourselves! It is God Almighty and His Word. King Solomon who also had his time of confusion, come on, 1000 women? How can you not? Even though he was the wisest man that ever lived, that proved to be his downfall, but he wrote, “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. Proverbs 4:25-27.” Let God handle your path. If you make a wrong turn on the highway you don’t just say, “Oh well, I think I’ll just go down here and see where it goes,” you can’t trust GPS either, you need the GPS God provides. GOD’S POWER & SALVATION.  You don’t just keep driving, you turn around. We will travel down the wrong road, but we need to realize, “Hey, I’m on the wrong road this is why nothing looks familiar,” or say, “I’m totally lost and confused”. We need to stop, turn around and head back to where we started from. You and I need to realize that there are times we need to stop. Just stop and let God lead you. Be still for a moment as the scripture says over and over. We get too confused when we get too much going on, text this, tweet that, door bell rings, phone rings, people need you here, there, everywhere. You mind racing 100 miles an hour and you can’t figure out which way is up anymore. Just stop. Breathe. Pray. “Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord. Psalms 4:4-5.” Don’t let confusion keep you from being used by God. Don’t let it keep you chaotic and continuing down the path of sin and doubt. Let’s finish this up by looking at the time when confusion and doubt turned into an incredible moment.  “And when he (Jesus) had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.” Cannot say I blame them. Seeing a guy walking on the water during a very bad storm in the middle of the night? Yeah, mark me scared too. “But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” Jesus wanted them to be happy not fearful, just like we should be when we are following God. “And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” Peter, good ol’ Peter, always wanting to do something extraordinary, “And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” Can you imagine walking on the water with Jesus? At first the disciples were scared but here’s Peter now walking on the water towards Jesus, talk about some faith and confidence! “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” I spoke too soon, Peter took his eyes off Jesus and instead on the storm. How many times do we take our eyes off Jesus and put them on our problems? And Peter started to sink. So do we, in sin and regret! But this isn’t the end, “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” How many times I’ve felt like Peter! How many times I’ve had my eyes on the Lord only to be distracted by my problems, by my doings, by my wishes and wants, only to realize Jesus is there waiting to catch me but I insist on failing and falling. But we must accept Jesus’ hand. It’s out there waiting to catch us, stretched out with the nail scar still in it, wanting to hold us and help us and keep us by that still water to comfort and calm us. Jesus caught Peter and he can catch us too. “And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.  Matthew 14:24-33.” Those on the ship weren’t confused about who Jesus was after the storm calmed. They worshipped him and said, “Truly you are the Son of God!” We may say that and believe that, but do we live it? Do we let God have control and keep us calm or are we running around in confusion while we are in control? It’s our choice. It’s always our choice. Confusion or calm both cost and both pay out which are you willing to have?