The eye of the LORD is on those who fear him
Fri, 25 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
13 The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
16 The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
Today the psalmist reminds us where our safety really lies: not in our own strength and ability, but in God and His favor.
What do we learn from this?
We think that our strength is our safety. More money and more power are what we need. My future will be bright if I just have a larger bank account. Our nation will prosper if we have a powerful army. But these are all false hopes for our protection.
The things we think bring us safety are not bad, in and of themselves. It is not wrong to be wealthy or to have a well equipped army. What is wrong is to trust in these provisions of ours rather than to trust in God.
We can work hard to build up our means of protection, but it will all be to no avail without God prospering our work.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Trust in God, not in yourself. It is true in all areas of your life. But the most significant area is the eternal salvation of your soul.
The only way to avert God’s wrath upon your sins is by trusting in the substitute He has provided. Jesus Christ has borne the punishment for the sins of those who come to Him in faith. But all those who are trusting in their own abilities and strengths will be eternally damned. They must pay for their own sins themselves because they have rejected God’s provision in Jesus Christ, offered to all who will humbly come trusting in God alone.
