Trust vs Confidence

There is a difference I’m convinced, in trust and confidence.

I knew Auburn’s 2010 football team had all the makings of a championship team….good coaches, size, experience, drive, closeness. I knew they had a quarterback with all it took to be an incredible leader.

We started off with a big win against a much smaller opponent. No sweat, my mother and I could have played them and won. Second game was almost lost but our quarterback threw for two TD’s and ran for 70 yards to pull us out. Third game, we fell behind 17-0 but came back to win it. Week four, another heroic comeback with our newly christened Superman quarterback running for three TD’s and throwing for two more in the fourth quarter. By week six, our hero threw for 210 yards and ran for 198 and four TD’s. We were pumped. No one could stop us.

Fast forward to the last game of the season and the only one that counts for most people in the state of Alabama. Auburn vs Alabama. We have Superman on our team…our receivers are catching everything that’s thrown within five yards of them, no one can stop our backs, our defense is like a steel curtain. With all that, Alabama is leading 24-0 early in the second quarter. The game is being played in Tuscaloosa. After jumping up and down all over my living room, I am silently perched on top of the back of my sofa staring in disbelief….total shock. My husband is shaking his head, saying over and over, “You might get behind 24-0 and come back with other schools, but there is absolutely no way we’ll come back and beat Alabama with this deficit.” I’m totally mute which never happens during a football game or during a football season for that matter.

But in my heart there is a glimmer of confident hope that my boys can and will find a way to pull this out. I just know it. I know it. No matter what my husband says, I just know it. We’ve been through so much. I’ve watched them pull it out time after time. They always reach down deep, find a way and win. Today is no different…just a hostile environment and a top five team running on all cylinders.

Amazing how God can be moving in one area of your life or a life you intersect with and you see dot after dot and you’re connecting them and with each line from one to another, you become more and more pumped until at some point you’re jumping up and down, high fiving anyone within reach. I even taught my class during this high. God said to put our trust and confidence in Him..this is it! Trust and confidence both nailed…Hallelujah!

Then an entirely unrelated area of your life runs into a train wreck. You’re caught unaware and stand there with your mouth hanging open. Holy cow. Time stands still. You have absolutely no clue what to do. You are speechless.

And then you regroup and just get mad which solves absolutely nothing but it feels so good…and you’re right…and they’re wrong and buddy you’re going to tell them. You work yourself up to fever pitch but before you let ‘em have it, because it’s so early in the morning you have to wait, you read your Daily Bible Reading. Mad as a hornet, you plow right through Paul appearing before Felix, Felix almost being persuaded…yeah yeah yeah. Then you move on to Psalms 4 and run right into verse 4, “Don’t sin by letting anger gain control over you. Think about it overnight and remain silent.”

ok.

Deep breath.

Same God. Where’s the confidence and trust that I was strutting around with earlier?

As I’ve worked through this other situation, I’ve realized trust and confidence are two different things…whether it’s God or a football team. There is a point with both that I think it just clicks and you have it. And I think trust is easier….it’s easier to say, “ I trust God.” Well, right, who wouldn’t…He created the universe, all powerful, all knowing, He loves me, I’ve seen Him work over and over….of course I trust Him.

But confidence? That’s different. That’s bumping it up a notch…or several notches. Confident that what… it will end “right?” And who defines right…me or Him? Confident He can guide me through this gracefully, so I say the right things, do the right things, hold it together trusting He’ll tell me what to do? Confident is a big deal and I’m part of the equation.

Auburn had a proven track record of pulling out games that they should not have won. I trusted in their ability and our quarterback’s talent and his sheer “ willing” of that team to do what they needed to do to win the game. They went all the way to the National Championship on his back…they rose to play at a level probably no other quarterback could have gotten out of them….all with the most infectious smile on his face. But those first few games…man, they were gut wrenchers. Confidence joined trust however, midway through the season after watching them pull it out several times and realizing what they were made of.

But each game was a new test. We faced different coaches, different players, different game plans constructed after watching film of what we did best. As our position in the polls rose each week, each new opponent was convinced they were the ones who would bring us down. But we knew…no one could beat our offensive coordinator, no one could top our quarterback and no one could rise to the level of play that our entire team could.

In life….every day, we face different situations. But we have a track record with an incredible Offensive Coordinator who has a game plan for that particular situation and has coached us through practice after practice until we’ve gotten it down. We are equipped with all we need to play this game. Follow Him…follow His game plan, His instructions. He can pull out the right plays at the right time so His players can pull out the game. Even when they’re down 24-0, He is unfazed. Even when they’re running into brick walls, nothing is working, looking dazed and defeated, He knows, if they’ll listen to Him, at some point it’ll click and they’ll perform like they’ve been trained. Their confidence in Him and His ability to work through them will be restored and they’ll pull out the game.

And no matter how it turns out, we are never defeated…ever. He has already won the victory and He defines what that will look like…not me. So I take a deep breath, remember who’s running the game and wait for the next play which in my case, He gave the next day. Why am I so amazed.

Life is a game with different opponents, different strategies to defeat you. Trust your Offensive Coordinator….He’s trained you, He’ll build your confidence in His ability to coach, in your ability to carry out His plan with His power … it’ll click…He knows what He’s doing. Stay close.

And I know you’re dying to know… Auburn went on to defeat Alabama 28-27. Great big smile :)