Beware of Overconfidence!
WELL-PLACED confidence is a good and useful thing, but both secular and sacred history warn us against the snare of overconfidence. Ancient Babylon was overconfident, only to fall to the armies of Cyrus. And Victor Hugo, the noted French writer and historian of the last century, tells of the overconfidence that Napoleon displayed before the battle of Waterloo:
“The emperor had never been in such good humor as today. . . . The man who had been somber at Austerlitz [where years before Napoleon had won his most signal victory] was gay at Waterloo. At the moment when Wellington retrograded, Napoleon felt a thrill. There remained only the task of completing the retreat with destruction. Napoleon turning abruptly sent a dispatch to Paris to announce that the battle was gained.”
But had the battle by then been gained? Was victory truly within his grasp? His overconfidence caused him to jump to that conclusion, but history was to record the opposite. So much so, in fact, that “Waterloo” has become proverbial for “a decisive or disastrous defeat or reversal.”
There is good reason for concluding that Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo was at least in part caused by his overconfidence. Thus, in discussing it, one authority tells us that “the French emperor did not show his usual care and thoroughness in his orders, nor his usual broad judgment in execution.” Confident as he was, still he should have remembered that there were many things, such as the weather, over which he might not be able to exercise control. And it was indeed these things that brought his downfall.
Sacred history, too, points to the pitfalls of overconfidence. The Bible tells that once the Syrian king Ben-hadad demanded of Israel’s king, “Your silver and your gold . . . your wives and your sons, the best looking.”
Israel’s king considered it wise to yield and so he replied: “According to your word, my lord the king, yours I am with all that belongs to me.” But not letting well enough alone, King Ben-hadad became overconfident and greatly increased his demands. Now he required that his servants be allowed carefully to search the houses of the king of Israel and those of his servants and take away “everything desirable to your eyes.” But this was going altogether too far and so Israel’s king sent word, “This thing I am not able to do.”
At that Ben-hadad bragged as to what he would do to Samaria. To that bragging, Israel’s king replied: “Do not let one girding on [his armor] boast about himself like one unfastening” his armor after a victorious return from battle. When the two kings and their armies locked in battle, Jehovah God saw to it that Israel’s king got the victory over superior odds.—1 Ki. 20:1-21.
The Christian apostle Peter also suffered difficulty due to overconfidence. Jesus had told his eleven faithful apostles on the night that he was to be betrayed: “All of you will be stumbled in connection with me on this night.” But Peter overconfidently said: “Although all the others are stumbled in connection with you, never will I be stumbled! . . . Even if I should have to die with you, I will by no means disown you.” Yet how Peter’s overconfidence came to grief! Shortly he had denied his Master three times.—Matt. 26:31-35, 69-75.
We cannot escape it, overconfidence is something to be guarded against. Not only because the future is always uncertain but also because our very overconfidence may cause us to act with poor judgment and thus bring us to grief. That is why the apostle Paul, after giving examples of the serious mistakes the ancient Israelites had made, goes on to note that these things “were written for a warning to us . . . Consequently let him that thinks he is standing beware that he does not fall.”—1 Cor. 10:5-12.
Far from being overconfident regarding the future, wisdom dictates that we say: “If Jehovah wills, we shall live and also do this or that.” At all times and in all our ways we need to take notice of Jehovah.—Jas. 4:15; Prov. 3:6.
Are you faced with a new task, job or assignment? Then guard against the tendency to be overconfident by taking the attitude, “This is easy!” or that you know so much better what should be done than those who have had much experience at it. It is indeed a true proverb: “Wisdom is with the modest ones.” So be modest.—Prov. 11:2.
Youths especially need to be on guard against the snare of overconfidence. They may have acquired some knowledge, but are they able to apply it at all times? They are eager to drive autos, but how good is their judgment? Their eagerness to marry may, at least in part, be due to overconfidence. Many of them view the responsibilities and burdens that go with marriage lightly. And these increase when there is emotional immaturity. No wonder that one out of every two teen-age marriages ends in divorce!
In particular must overconfidence be guarded against in connection with preaching the Word of God from the public platform. Overconfidence causes one to fail to prepare properly. As a result the speaker may be guilty of glittering generalities and inaccuracies. Especially those having the “gift of gab” need to be on guard and bear in mind that they are speaking not merely to entertain but to build up their listeners spiritually. The apostle Paul set a good example in this regard, for he asked his Christian brothers to pray for him, that he might be able to speak the good news as he ought to, with all freeness of speech.—Eph. 6:18-20.
No question about it, overconfidence is always ill-advised. Caution and modesty and looking to Jehovah God for help are the course of wisdom. This is borne out, as we have seen, by both secular and sacred history.