17 Bible Verses About Self-Confidence

Proverbs 28:26

“Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.”

Reflection: The proverb sets two people side by side: one who trusts in himself, whom it calls a fool, and one who walks in wisdom and is kept safe. Earlier in the book, Proverbs 3:5 gives the same contrast as a command: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

Jeremiah 17:7

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.”

Reflection: Jeremiah sets this blessing directly after a curse: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD” (17:5). The one who trusts in man is like a bush in the wastelands; the one whose confidence is in the LORD is like a tree planted by the water that “does not fear when heat comes” and keeps bearing fruit in drought (17:8).

2 Corinthians 3:4-5

“Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”

Reflection: At the start of the chapter Paul asks whether he needs letters of recommendation to the Corinthians, and answers that the church itself is his letter, “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God” (3:3). He does claim confidence, and he names its source: it comes through Christ, and his competence “comes from God.” Verse 6 says what God made him competent for: to be a minister of a new covenant.

Proverbs 3:26

“for the LORD will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.”

Reflection: The chapter is addressed to “my son” (3:21), who is told that keeping wisdom and discretion means walking safely and sleeping without fear (3:23-25). The NIV reads “the LORD will be at your side.” The Hebrew noun here, kesel, can mean confidence, and the English Standard Version translates the line “the LORD will be your confidence.” In both renderings the son’s safety rests on the LORD.

Philippians 4:13

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Reflection: The “all this” points back to verse 12, where Paul says he has learned to be content “whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” He is writing to thank the Philippians for renewing their concern for him (4:10). The verse is about enduring need and plenty alike, and it credits the strength to “him who gives me strength.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Reflection: Paul had pleaded three times for “a thorn in my flesh” to be taken away, a thorn given, he says, “to keep me from becoming conceited” after great revelations (12:7-8). Instead of removing it, the Lord answered with the sentence that opens verse 9. Verse 10 draws Paul’s conclusion from it: he delights in weaknesses and hardships for Christ’s sake, because when he is weak, he is strong.

Zechariah 4:6

“‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”

Reflection: The word is addressed to Zerubbabel, whose hands, verse 9 says, “have laid the foundation of this temple” and will also complete it. Might and power are set aside as the means of the work; the LORD’s Spirit will accomplish it. Verse 7 pictures the obstacle as a mountain that “will become level ground” before Zerubbabel.

2 Timothy 1:7

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

Reflection: Paul reminds Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God” he received through the laying on of Paul’s hands (1:6). The next verse names the timidity in question: “do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner.” The power, love and self-discipline the Spirit gives are for joining Paul in suffering for the gospel “by the power of God” (1:8).

Isaiah 41:10

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Reflection: The LORD speaks to Israel, “my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen” (41:8). The command not to fear rests on two statements about God: “I am with you” and “I am your God.” Each verb of strength in the verse has God as its subject: he will strengthen, help and uphold.

Joshua 1:9

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Reflection: The LORD speaks to Joshua after the death of Moses, as Joshua is about to lead Israel across the Jordan (1:1-2). The charge to be strong and courageous comes three times in the LORD’s words (1:6, 7, 9); verses 7-8 tie Joshua’s success to keeping the Book of the Law, and verse 9 gives the reason he need not be afraid: the LORD will be with him “wherever you go.” Moses had spoken the same charge to the people and to Joshua in Deuteronomy 31:6-8.

Psalm 27:1

“The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?”

Reflection: The psalm opens with two questions that answer themselves, because the LORD is light, salvation and stronghold. Verse 3 carries the thought to a siege: “Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.”

Hebrews 13:6

“So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’”

Reflection: The setting is money: verse 5 tells readers to keep free from the love of money and be content with what they have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” echoing Deuteronomy 31:6. This verse answers that promise with words drawn from Psalm 118:6-7. With the Lord as helper, what people can do is no cause for fear.

Hebrews 4:16

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Reflection: The word for confidence is parrēsia, which also means freedom of speech. The verse before gives the reason for approaching boldly: Jesus is a high priest who can “empathize with our weaknesses,” having been “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (4:15). What is received at the throne is mercy and grace “in our time of need.”

Hebrews 10:35-36

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”

Reflection: The readers are told to remember the earlier days when they endured insult and persecution and “joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property” (10:32-34). The confidence, again parrēsia, is something they already have and must not throw away. Verse 36 says what keeping it requires: perseverance until they receive what God has promised.

1 John 5:14

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

Reflection: The letter gives its purpose in the verse before: “so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). The confidence here is in prayer, and it has a condition: God hears what is asked “according to his will.” The letter uses the same word in 3:21, “if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,” after covering the other case in 3:20: “If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts.”

Psalm 139:14

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Reflection: The verses around this one describe God forming the psalmist before birth: “you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (139:13) and “your eyes saw my unformed body” (139:16). The praise is for God’s workmanship, and what the psalmist knows “full well” is that God’s works are wonderful.

Ephesians 2:10

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Reflection: The verse follows directly on a denial of self-credit: salvation is by grace, “not from yourselves” and “not by works, so that no one can boast” (2:8-9). Having ruled out boasting, Paul calls believers God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared in advance.