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God Will Be Your Confidence

Proverbs 3:25-26 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
²⁵Do not be afraid of sudden panic^[14]
or the storm of the wicked, when it comes,
²⁶for Jehovah will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being caught.

[14] Or fear, dread, terror

In Proverbs 3:25-26, Solomon goes on to help us appreciate that we will only have peace and freedom from anxiety by our trust in the wisdom of God.

Do not be afraid of sudden panic: Sudden: (Heb. piṯ·ʾōm) is describing an incident that occurs or happens quickly and unexpectedly or without warning, coming as a complete surprise, creating panic, fear, dread, or even terror within us. It is the second line that offers some insight into the nature of the sudden fear, fright, terror.

Or the storm of the wicked, when it comes: The storm (Heb. šô·ʾā(h)) of the wicked has the sense of an incident that results in the destruction of the wicked ones. It is a storm-like occasion that comes on the wicked like a storm, resulting in their destruction.

For Jehovah will be your confidence: The Hebrew conjunction for (kî) gives us the reason for the reassurance that was just offered in verse 25. Confidence (Heb. kě·sěl) is referring to the trust that we can have in Jehovah, the faith that we can have, the reliability that we know. When looking at the context of verses 24-26, confidence gives us the sense of the courage we can possess, the hope in Jehovah that we can have, and the security that we can feel in the face of threatening conditions because of our complete trust in Jehovah.

Will keep your foot from being caught: Clearly, the thought here is of one getting his foot caught in a trap or a snare. The foot (Heb. rě·ḡěl) here is not specifically speaking of the part of the leg below our ankle but rather is referring to the whole person, meaning that Jehovah will not allow us to be caught unawares, off guard in some incident that occurs quickly and unexpectedly or without warning, surprising us to the point of sudden fear, fright, terror.

Now, let us take a moment to establish what it does not mean. Should we understand these verses, or any other in Scripture that because we are wisely walking with Jehovah God that he will miraculously step in to protect each Christian personally from disease, mental disorders, injury or death? These sorts of miracles are the exception to the rule. Of the 4,000 plus years of Bible history, from Adam to Jesus, with tens of millions of people living and dying, we have but a few dozen miracles that we know of in Scripture. Even in Bible times, miracles were not common, far from it. Hundreds of years may pass with no historical record of a miracle happening at all.

If we are wisely walking with Jehovah, we can be confident that bodily injury and early death is far less likely than if we were not. Moreover, we can draw on the resurrection hope. Does Jehovah God miraculously heal us? Yes, but it is an extreme exception to the rule. He miraculously heals those who are going to play a major role in his settling of the issues that were raised in the Garden of Eden.

What these verses and the rest of Scripture teach us is this, if we walk by using biblical discernment and exercising biblically sound judgment, unless an unexpected occurrence befalls us, we can be confident that we will not stumble into the difficulties that the world of mankind alienated from God faces every day. Conversely, the wicked do not have this protection. In other words, Christians live by the moral values of Scripture, which gives them an advantage over those that do not. Therefore, God answers our prayers by our faithfully acting on behalf of those prayers, by applying Scripture in a balanced manner. If we have not taken in a deep knowledge of God’s Word, how can we have Spirit-inspired wisdom, the very knowledge of God to guide and direct us in our ways?