Choosing Divine Guidance Over Human Might
Isaiah 31:1
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
“Woe to them that go down…” Have you ever been set up for a letdown? That’s what it is when we place our trust in anything or anyone but the Holy One of Israel! It is not our strength He seeks to use to bring us out, but His own. God knows what we are made of, and given the options, I can’t say that I blame Him for wanting to do it Himself! After all, if we were honest, most of us have a pretty poor track record when it comes to this! Just because we see potential in some source for power, provisions, and deliverance, does not necessarily mean that what we’re looking at is God’s choice plan of the day.
Often is the case that we assume we know the way we should take based upon what limited understanding we have of the situation. However, until we seek the Lord, we are really making an educated guess at the very best. The only thing educational about “educated guessing” is what we learn that we didn’t know to start with! We had better seek the Lord in everything! Psa 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”
I think here of when David was just a shepherd boy who stood up against Goliath, while the rest of the Israelites were shaking in their boots! Goliath made a terrible mistake that day when he sized the situation up by what he could see in the natural realm. The mistake he made was that he should have never been looking at what David had in his hands; he should have been looking at what David had in his heart! Had Goliath known that God’s favor was on young David because of his pure heart, he would not have done so foolishly as he did when he made a mockery of God and His people!
You, too, may not have much to look at externally, but God is not looking at what’s in your hands; He’s looking at what’s in your heart! Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
“Woe to them that go down…” Have you ever been set up for a letdown? That’s what it is when we place our trust in anything or anyone but the Holy One of Israel! It is not our strength He seeks to use to bring us out, but His own. God knows what we are made of, and given the options, I can’t say that I blame Him for wanting to do it Himself! After all, if we were honest, most of us have a pretty poor track record when it comes to this! Just because we see potential in some source for power, provisions, and deliverance, does not necessarily mean that what we’re looking at is God’s choice plan of the day.
Often is the case that we assume we know the way we should take based upon what limited understanding we have of the situation. However, until we seek the Lord, we are really making an educated guess at the very best. The only thing educational about “educated guessing” is what we learn that we didn’t know to start with! We had better seek the Lord in everything! Psa 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”
I think here of when David was just a shepherd boy who stood up against Goliath, while the rest of the Israelites were shaking in their boots! Goliath made a terrible mistake that day when he sized the situation up by what he could see in the natural realm. The mistake he made was that he should have never been looking at what David had in his hands; he should have been looking at what David had in his heart! Had Goliath known that God’s favor was on young David because of his pure heart, he would not have done so foolishly as he did when he made a mockery of God and His people!
You, too, may not have much to look at externally, but God is not looking at what’s in your hands; He’s looking at what’s in your heart! Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill