For I will not trust in my bow ...

.... Nor shall my sword save me. But You have saved us from our enemies (Psalm 44:6, 7). The Psalmist was recalling the mighty deeds of God, and acknowledges His Sovereignty over the affairs of Israel. It was God who drove out the nations in the past, it was not by their own hand that the land was conquered, but because of God's favour (vv. 2, 3). But now God had cast them off and no longer went out with the armies (verse 9). Humbled, the Psalmist acknowledges God as his king, and pleads for God once more to be with them so as to get victory (vv 4, 5). We too, when we drift away from God, one way or another we end up in disaster. Perhaps we are reaping the consequences of bad decisions thus taking ourselves out from under His protection (Galatians 6:7). Or perhaps we have ceased to involve God at all and tried to do things in our own strength, thus failing to take advantage of His provision.

There are two verses that come to mind as I think on these things. The first, is “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), the second “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). It was not the bow or the sword that saved Israel. They could not win unless God went out with them (verse 9). But they did need to go out to battle, and when God was with them they won “through Him who strengthened them.” Partnership with God is crucial for the victorious Christian life. God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, but most of the time He will not do for us what we can do for ourselves.

But can we really do nothing without Him? Well yes and no! We can shake our fist in God's face and defy Him, and surely that is not something that God helps us with! But actually He gives life and breath (Isaiah 42:5), and could take it away at any time. So He allows this, and we could not do it without Him allowing it! But perhaps what is more relevant here, is that we can do nothing of eternal significance without Him, nothing that will last. Indeed “Unless the Lord build the house, those who labour labour in vain.” And concerning the wicked (all who refuse the Free gift of eternal life) “the grass withers, and its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So (for example) the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits” (James 1:11).

Father, the stanza of the poem by C.T Studd comes to mind. “Only one life, a few brief years, Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears; Each with its clays I must fulfill, living for self or in His will; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Help us Lord to live for you today and every day in Jesus Name Amen