CHARIOTS AND HORSES

Placing our trust in someone and something, is an indication of our heart, and of our faith in them. We trust someone and something only when we believe they can help us; or, when we have no other option but that particular person, or that particular thing. We trust someone else, only when we do not have that ability, and the needed resources to do it in our own. Trust is much deeper than merely seeking someone else’s help. Why are we seeking help from that someone or something,  gives us the needed insight into our hearts, our thinking, and our own capabilities.

David, writing in Psalm 20:7-8 says something that we should remember always. This should be applied, more like a question to ourselves, as to from where, or from whom are we seeking for our help.
– “7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God. 8 They have bowed down and fallen; But we have risen and stand upright.” – Psalm 20:7-8

Seeking of help from others, in times of need, speaks about a much deeper spiritual issue, than what one might understand on a surface level. The faith we are willing to place in someone and in something, makes that person or that something, our god. The problem here is not so much seeking help from someone, but rather, seeking help from others, and placing our trust in them, instead of seeking the LORD, and asking for His help and His guidance. This is the error, and herein is the sin.
– “7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses…” – Psalm 20:7a
– “Alas, how many in our day who profess to be the Lord’s are as abjectly dependent upon their fellow-men or upon an arm of flesh in some shape or other, as if they had never known the name of Jehovah at all.” – Charles H. Spurgeon

David is speaking to us, as much he was speaking to himself. It is good to trust the LORD our God, than to place our trust in the intelligence, strength and power of someone else.
– “…But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” – Psalm 20:7b

David had already demonstrated such faith in the LORD his God, even at a very young age. How can we forget David’s encounter with Goliath? How can we forget the words of David, to a terrified king Saul? How can we forget the words of David, to Goliath, a towering giant, and a man of war from his youth? Herein lies the secret of David’s success.
– “34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!” – 1 Samuel 17:34-37
– “45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands.” – 1 Samuel 17:45-47

What are we to do in times of need, and in times of trouble? The LORD, speaking through prophet Jeremiah, has an answer, which should help us once and for all.
– “23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.” – Jeremiah 9:23-24

Therefore, let us do what this old Christian chorus urges – “Trust in the LORD and don’t despair, He is a Friend so true to you, No matter what your troubles are, Jesus will carry you through. Trust when the day is bright, trust in the darkest night, everyday, all the way, let us sing, sing sing…Trust in the LORD and don’t despair…” Even so, the LORD help us.