Isaiah 30:12-33:9
Galatians 5:1-12
Psalm 63:1-11
Proverbs 23:22
Yesterday we wrote about complacency, and the importance of running the race till the finish. But if you're like me, you are going to have days where you just don't feel like you have enough to finish. Where you've given what you know is your best, and it just isn't going to be enough. What do you do then? Where do you go for the strength? On whom do you depend?
In both the OT and NT readings today, Isaiah and Paul talk about looking for help, for security in the wrong places. "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…" Isaiah decries. And Paul castigates those who think they can trust works, rather than grace.
Whom do you trust, and why? I find I trust those whom I know. The Israelites knew the Egyptians' strength. The Judaizers within the Galatian church knew the law. So that was what they trusted. David, on the other hand, who wrote Psalm 63 - he knew God. He had "seen [Him] in the sanctuary and beheld [His] power and glory. He knew Him because David took time to get to know Him, remembering God as he lay in his bed, thinking of Him through the watches of the night.
Because of this, David knew that when things seemed helpless - when he was "in a dry and parched land where there is no water", or when he know there were those who wanted to kill him, he could continue to run the race, not just hopeful, but hope-filled and certain of the victory in the end. Because he took the time and made the effort to get to know the Lord.
Father, give us the same desire David had to get to know You, so that we learn to put our confidence in You when our circumstances seem dire and hopeless. In Jesus's name we pray.
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