Pepe the Frog loves Jesus

Daily Psalm February 3

Read Psalm 20.

1 May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. 3 May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. 4 May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. 5 May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests. 6 Now this I know: The LORD gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 8 They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. 9 LORD, give victory to the king! Answer us when we call!

BEFORE A BATTLE.

How do you get ready for some great challenge? It could be a conflict or a surgery or an undertaking that is very dangerous. The people here are on the eve of a great battle, and the temptation is to look to military might as their hope (verse 7). Instead they look to the Lord and to the king he has sent them (verse 1–6). Because God answers him, God’s king (verse 1), he answers them (verse 9). How easy for us to place hope in analogous things—family, money, doctors, programs. Christians look instead to their anointed King, Jesus. God always answers him and honors his sacrifice (verse 1–4; cf. Hebrews 10:1–22).

Prayer:

Lord, I am so anxious because I look to human wisdom, talent, and resources. They can let me down, but you cannot! Even if things don’t go as I wish, if they are in your hands I am safe. And I know you will hear my prayer because you always hear my Savior’s prayers. Amen.

Psalm 33.17: The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.

Joshua 11:6 The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them, slain, over to Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots."

2 Samuel 8:4

And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for 100 chariots.

"You shall hamstring (cripple) their horses and burn their chariots with fire." On its face, this command doesn't seem to make any sense at all: why get rid of something that seems valuable like horses and chariots, especially when there was still more land to conquer and battles to fight? After all, horse-drawn chariots were the best military technology at the time, and they would certainly have come in handy as the Israelites continued to sweep through the land. Why, God? Why disable and destroy what seems like valuable tools of warfare? Regardless of these unanswered questions, Joshua does as he's told: "And Joshua did to them just as the Lord said to him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire." Although the command may have been confusing to Israel at the time, as we look back on this story, there are at least two clear reasons why God instructed the Israelites not to use horses and chariots.

1. To remind Israel that God alone is sovereign over the battle.

If the Israelites had horses and chariots to fight their battles, it could be very easy for them to be tempted to think that their might and victory came from horses and chariots and not from God. And that is not something that God will allow to happen to them. In fact, it seems that God wants his people to engage in their battles from what appears to be a position of weakness so that it will be clear to them - and to their enemies - that the only reason they are successful is because

God is fighting for them. And so, in order to drive that point home, God tells them to cripple the horses so they will never pull another chariots, and burn the chariots so they will never again be used in battle. The message is this: God is sovereign over the battle, and victory comes from him. Not from horses; not from chariots; not from strategy; not from strength; not from superior weaponry; not from anything but from God.

1. To show Israel that the best that man has to offer amounts to nothing.

The horse-drawn chariot was the height of military technology in Joshua's day. All of the best and strongest armies employed horses and chariots in their conquests, and the army with the most chariots had the best advantage on the battlefield. So then, in telling his people to get rid of all the horses and chariots, God is showing them that the best that mankind has to offer to help them in their endeavors amounts to nothing when compared to the sovereign power and action of God fighting on your behalf. Imagine walking onto a modern battlefield where guns, bombs, mortars, and every other type of deadly weapon is aimed right at you, and you've only been given a rubber band to shoot with your thumbs. The power of God is so immense that horses and chariots amount to the tactical advantage of of a rubber band in comparison.

Unlike Israel, you and I are not engaged in a campaign to claim the Promised Land, and we're not fighting armies and inheriting horses and chariots as the spoils of war. But, like Israel, you and I certainly have things in our lives that can tempt us to take our focus off of trusting in God and his provision and sovereignty in our lives. Imagine the security that having horses and chariots would have brought the Israelites. They probably would have slept better at night knowing they had horses and chariots; they probably would have felt more confident and bold and encouraged if they had horses and chariots. But the security of horses and chariots is nothing compared to the security of trusting the sovereign Lord of the universe. Israel didn't need horses and chariots. They needed God.

Psalm 33.17: The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. So is anything in which you put your trust, because the best the world or you can offer amounts to nothing when compared to God's abilities. Your status or wealth or power or good works are false hopes for salvation - by their great might they cannot rescue. Only God rescues.

Psalm 20.7: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.