Who Is Your Confidence?

“That no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Corinthians 1:29, NKJV). This verse is not just a New Testament truth but also true in Moses’ day. Moses could not deliver God’s people in his own strength. He had to be taught, once and for all, that God’s work is done not through human ability but by total trust and dependence on the Lord.

This is true for every Christian today. All that the flesh tries to bring to God must be put off. Indeed, God says to us, as he did to Moses, “There is only one ground upon which you can approach me, and that is holy ground. You can have no confidence in your flesh because no flesh will stand in my presence.”

When talking to Moses, God focused on shoes (see Exodus 3:5) because feet are two of the most tender parts of the body. Shoes protect our flesh from the elements, stones, snakes, filth, dust, and hot pavement.

Do you see what God was saying to Moses here? He was using an everyday, ordinary thing to teach a spiritual lesson, just as Jesus later did when he used coins, pearls, camels, and mustard seeds.

God said, “Moses, you wear protective garb to protect your flesh from injury. Yet no amount of fleshly protection will be able to keep you when I send you into Egypt to face a hardened dictator. You will be put into a situation that only I can deliver you from. Unless you set aside all reliance on your flesh, you won’t be able to do what I’m calling you to do. All your abilities will be worthless unless I sanctify them.”

Indeed, Moses faced many tests and trials as he led some three million people into the desert. With no grocery stores, malls, or even a water well, he had to depend wholly on God for everything.

Moses had already tried to act as a deliverer in the power of his flesh. Forty years earlier, he struck and killed a cruel Egyptian slave driver. Now, God was saying, “Moses, your zeal has to be sanctified, or it will destroy you. Are you willing to surrender and place all your confidence in me?”