READING: Isaiah 31-35
When you need help in spiritual battles, do you turn first to God or first to others? Do you fight the enemy in your own strength? In the strength of others?
I think many believers act first and pray second; turn to each other for help and then ask God to bless their efforts; and rely on their own ability until they’re forced to turn to God. They are like those in Isaiah’s day who chose to trust Egypt rather than God: “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord” (Isa 31:1).
It’s easy to do, actually. Most of us are do-ers, workers, leaders who understand that our role often requires action. We look around, seek guidance and help, and then trust in our own strength and in our human weapons. We strive to fix first and then seek the Lord only if/when we have to. That time for seeking God often comes when we’ve made such a bigger mess of the given situation that we can only look up to Him.
Sometimes we even evaluate our power and success on the basis of our numbers — our "chariots" and our "horsemen." If our church is bigger than others, God must be blessing us. That’s possible, but it’s also possible that we’ve built the church on our own charisma. We prove our power by our numbers, not recognizing that our numbers might reflect our own “multitudes of chariots” that lack the true power of God. In the end, we build our troops without looking to the “Holy One of Israel” — and that’s a dangerous thing to do.
So, wherever we are . . . whatever we’re doing . . . whoever accompanies us . . . whatever battles we face . . . we must look to the Holy One.
ACTION STEPS:
- Honestly examine your own life: do you turn first to others or to God when you face struggle and temptation?
- Make a list of the “multitude of chariots” you lean on when you face the enemy. For example, I tend to lean on my education, my position, my experience. I, too, am first a fixer.
PRAYER: “Lord, thank You for being our judge, our lawgiver, our king, our warrior. Let us see Your glory today.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Isaiah 36-41
