Top 7 Bible Verses About Confusion or Being Confused

Here are 7 of my favorite Bible verses on confusion.  What might be your choice?

First Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”

This chapter addresses orderly worship services in the church and the expectations that God has for them.  God expects things to be organized in the church and this is reflected in the way that Old Testament worship services were planned.  Everything had to be in proper order so that those who were involved did services in a way that reflected the holiness of God. God expects the same thing in the New Testament church except for the sacrificial system which of course Jesus completely fulfilled in the work at Calvary.

First John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

God wants us to test the spirits, whether they are from God or from Satan and his minions.  There are no shortage of false doctrines that are brought into some churches by half-truths and that is Satan’s tactic; he mixes error in with the truth which makes people more gullible, but a half-truth is still a whole lie just as it was in John’s day.  There are many false prophets who mascaraed as angels of light (ministers of truth) so the best way to refute error is to stay in the truth daily and that truth is always found in the Word of God.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Someone once told me that in their heart they knew that a teaching was from God but I reminded them to place every teaching against the Word of God to ensure whether something is true or not.  If it is confusing, then we know it’s not of God and to try and rely on the heart as being the deciding factor of whether something is true or not, is certainly not a reliable way to do that.  Jeremiah reminds us that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” but not only that, who can trust it?  You can trust the Word of God.

Proverbs 25:26 “Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.”

A muddied spring is certainly not trustworthy because you don’t know what’s in the water…whether it’s safe or not but the righteous man, or a Christian for example, who gives way or gives in to the wicked is just like a muddied spring.  It confuses those who see him about his testimony before Christ. It makes others doubt the sincerity of his faith.

John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

Who is this “Helper” Jesus was speaking about?  If you read most of the chapter (14) you can see the context is clearly about the Holy Spirit.  When we need things brought to our remembrance, we can certainly trust the Spirit of God to bring clarity about something or help us remember what we need to remember and when we need to remember it, thus reducing the likelihood of confusion about something. That’s because Jesus said “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:13).

First Corinthians 31:12 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

Today, we do not see everything that is in our eternal future and we are only seeing through a dark glass and even though we know many things about our coming future in eternity, only at His return will we see things that make more sense of what we are going through today.  I believe one of the first things we will say when the kingdom comes is “Ah, now I get it” but for today, we can only see glimpses of what is to come.  Even though there is still some confusion about our eternal home with God, on that day we see Him “face to face” it will all make perfect sense.

Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Trying to find the will of God is often difficult and that’s why Christ told the disciples and by extension, He tells us today, to ask, seek, and knock and then it will be opened or revealed to us.  It reminds me of a child who is trying to find his mother.  He asks for her and gets no answer.  He starts searching the house in seeking her.  Finally, he knocks on her bedroom door and when it’s opened, he finds her.  That’s a little like seeking God’s will in a world of confusion.  Persistence pays off; keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking and in time, “it will be opened to you.”

Conclusion

Living in the world is confusing at times.  Things that happen often don’t make sense. We can lessen the chance of our being confused if we stay in the Word of God.  To find God’s hidden will and lessen our confusion, we need to be doing His revealed will because God will never reveal His hidden will for us until we at least obey His revealed will.  Living in obedience to God certainly increases the chances for clarity from God and decreases confusion in our lives.

Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon