July 5 - A Horse Offers No Hope

July 5 – A Horse Offers No Hope

“A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength, it cannot save.  But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.” (Psalm 33:17-18)

“A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” (King Richard III in Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’)

Even Shakespeare knew that the horse wasn’t going to do Richard much good at that point.

David acknowledged that no king is saved by the size of his army and no warrior escapes by his great strength. (Psalm 33:16) 

We have a hard time believing that we can’t do things simply because we will them to be done.  A man with great strength has a weakness that will fell him.  Even Samson – the strongest man ever known at the time was undone by cutting his hair.  The greatest of all the kings and kingdoms have fallen – none has withstood the ravages of time.

Great strength can take us so far, but we are still human and have limitations.  Great knowledge will take us far, but we are still human and have limitations.  Great amounts of money will take us far, but we are still human and have limitations.

These are the things we count on daily to help us overcome the world around us.  We count on our strength and stamina, our knowledge and would love to count on money.  But, these things can only take us so far – and if we are satisfied with limiting ourselves that way, we will never amount to anything more than our limited resources.

This Psalm promises that hoping and trusting in the Lord’s unfailing love will take us far beyond human limitations. 

You see, God has none of those limitations.  It’s quite safe to place our hope in Him.