Psalm 33:16-17
No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
Where is your confidence? What do you rely on to make everything alright? None of us has an army. I doubt that many of us even have a horse! And if we did, we probably wouldn't be relying on it for our safety. But we all have something that acts as our comfort blanket. Something that we trust in. As long as I've got .... then everything will be OK. For some it's money in the bank. Or success at work. Or having the house just right. For some it's another person, perhaps a parent, or a husband, or even children - it's their job to make us feel safe and secure. Providing they do what we need them to, everything's OK. Some of us
trust in ourselves - maybe in our physical beauty, our intellect, or a particular skill or talent. What is it for you?
Whatever it is, if it's anything other than God, it won't actually save us. It can't deliver us from danger. It can't live up to the hope
that we're putting in it. These things aren't rubbish - money in the bank DOES make life easier. Other people ARE a source of real comfort and help. An army IS powerful. A horse IS strong. Any of these things can be great blessings from God, to be received with thankfulness. But they cannot save. They may be useful in life, but they can't protect us from death. They may shield us from some of the effects of suffering in this world, but they can't offer us a place in a better world.
In our family bible times at the moment we're reading the book of Daniel. We've seen how King Nebuchadnezzer, ruler of the Babylonian Empire - the great superpower of the time - lost all his mighty power and lived for a time like a wild animal, because he trusted in his own greatness instead of being humble before God. He had money, armies, horses, power and achievement far beyond anything we can even imagine. But in the end they did him no good at all. In fact, they were actually bad for him - they fooled him into thinking he didn't need God.
As we'll see tomorrow, God alone is our strength and hope and rescuer. So let's repent today of putting too much of our confidence in the wrong places, and ask God to teach us to accept his good gifts with humble thankfulness, instead of using them as God-substitutes in our lives.
