We once had an assistant youth director at the church where my husband pastors, who had a lot of what we Yiddish speakers call “chutzpah” – basically guts and nerve on steroids. At his first leadership-team meeting (online due to the pandemic), he aired his opinions and gave abundant advice to older leaders (both in age and tenure). By the second meeting, he was already correcting the senior pastor. Plus, he was a young man from another ethnicity amongst an ethnic group with a hierarchical, age-respecting, culture.

The rest of us sat in silence. He took that as agreement and spoke with an even more authoritative tone the next time. Knowing this particular culture, I understood that the silence more likely meant “we don’t want to acknowledge this comment or respond because it’s either too uncomfortable or not worth it”. That is, no communication is communication.

Although he based his boldness mainly on self-confidence and applied it the wrong way, I and others did admire his chutzpah to some degree. But imagine if we could gain the right kind of chutzpah from the right source and use it for the right reasons—what a way to glorify the Lord and advance His Kingdom on earth!

In Scripture, we see one man who actually did get heaps of holy chutzpah from the right source, and used it the right way, with that wonderful outcome. In the Book of Acts, we meet him—Saul/Paul of Tarsus. Several times we see him giving orders to magistrates, city officials, top-ranking Roman military officers, governors, even the king when he needed to set them straight on the truth.

In one case, he publicly rebukes the Philippian magistrates and officials for illegally mistreating him, a Roman citizen (Acts 16:35-40). Another time he stands up for his rights again, warning a centurion not to let the commander flog him (Acts 22:23-29). In Acts 23:16-18, he calls a centurion over, who comes at his call, and orders him to bring an urgent message (the plot to kill him) to the tribune. When the centurion goes, he essentially tells his boss, “I’m here because a prisoner ordered me to come tell you”! Acts 26:1-29 finds Paul not only boldly defending his faith in front of the opposition, governor, and the king, he witnesses convincingly to King Agrippa and “almost persuades” him.

Finally, we come to Acts 27, the ultimate example of a heaping helping of chutzpah: Again, Paul, a prisoner, someone in the lowest position possible with no right to speak, tells high position people what to do, what not to do, and why. Here, he goes beyond even that by telling all the top leaders, “I told you so– You should’ve listened to me the first time!” when they were wrong. Then he encouraged them and told them to eat, so they’d have energy, and they listened to him.

What gave him all that righteous, helpful, chutzpah that saved him from unnecessary suffering, saved his and others’ lives, encouraged people, and brought the Lord to everyone he met? How could he speak with such confident authority from such a low position? We know the answer—the Holy Spirit leading and empowering him, and giving him holy chutzpah.

For any of us who have given our lives to Jesus, we have access to the same. When it’s time to stand up for truth, confront wrongdoing, witness publicly without fear of ridicule or rejection—no matter what our status among those we’re with—ask Him and He’ll give us a healthy, heaping, dose of holy chutzpah!

How do we know? What if we don’t have the personality of Paul in the Bible or of our former assistant youth pastor? Can we still get heaps of holy chutzpah?

Yes. How do I know?

First, if it’s holy chutzpah, it doesn’t originate with or depend on our own human personality. It originates with the Holy Spirit, Who, as mentioned above, resides in all of us who’ve given our lives to the Lord. Granted, some personalities do lend themselves more to boldness and chutzpah, but that can cause those people to depend on their own power instead of the Lord’s.

Second, the Lord wants to give us heaps of chutzpah when needed. In His sovereignty, He has chosen to work through us, particularly those He knows will give Him the glory when it happens.

Imagine someone who’s already known as “that strong, outspoken guy” taking a bold stance on an issue. Everyone would just think, “No big deal, he always does this.” It’s what people expect of him.

Now imagine a timid, shy, soft-spoken, young lady who suddenly speaks up boldly, with conviction, declaring, “This is wrong!”, or “This is what we need to do!” Jaws would drop and everyone would take notice, wondering where that kind of chutzpah came from! Obviously not from within her. Hopefully she would reference her source. Much like Jesus’ earliest disciples—

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

Third, we need to ask for it with the right motives, so the Lord will know we’ll use it the right way for the right reasons. As it says in James 4:2b-3–

“You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

The next time we need chutzpah to right a wrong, confront evil, stand up for truth, or declare our allegiance to the Lord, don’t shrink back in fear—go to Him for heaps of holy chutzpah!