When I was a kid, my family would periodically visit a lake in northwest Indiana that had hundreds of houses along its shoreline.
Well, you know how boys are…. my brothers and I would go exploring in our aluminum jon boat, sometimes to fish, sometimes to swim, and sometimes to check out properties that appeared abandoned.
One of those neglected houses faced a deep-water cove and down at the water’s edge was a long, 12-inch-wide board with one end buried in the clay soil with several concrete blocks propping up the other end about five feet above the water.
This ad hoc diving board looked quite inviting, even though it was covered with a very thin layer of moss.
My 45-year-old memory is fuzzy at this point but I think my oldest brother Dan was the one who decided to taste the fun ahead of the rest of us.
And so he ran up the board and jumped hard on the end in order to spring up into the air as high as possible, just as we typically did at the city pool back home in Bloomington, Indiana.
You surely can guess what happened. The expected “pha-wooomph!” was replaced with an ear-piercing “CRACK!”
Fortunately, Dan wasn’t hurt when he and the board collapsed into the lake. We all learned that day to be more careful about what we trust.
I was reminded of this story this morning after reading from Psalm 20.
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” (Psalm 20:7)
Listen, when tough times come with job relationships or family relationships or medical matters or temptation struggles or financial failures, Satan wants us to rely on worldly solutions.
For example, he wants us to think that the chariot of “in-your-face” power is going to intimidate the world into becoming more compliant to our wants.
He wants us to think that the horses of a pushy attitude or a sharp tongue or choosing the right club/gossip circle will help us succeed in life.
Such things are dried-out, wooden diving boards, my friend. They might work for a while but when you really count on them to do what you want, they fail you.
And they certainly fail the God who loves you and wants you to do more for others.
When times are tough, don’t count on chariots and horses. They didn’t do Israel any good and they won’t help us, either, when what we need is God’s help.
Chariots and horses are designed to get us into conflict, not help us to rise above it. That’s God’s job.
Trust God with your prayers, with your learning of the Word and with your living out of its principles with humility and Christ-imitating determination.
That’s SO much better than hearing the “CRACK!” when your worldly strategy for finding inner peace fails you at the worst possible time.
As always, I love you
Martin
