Trust in Horsemen and Chariots

It seemed the reasonable thing to do. The Israelites were faced with the Assyrians, the chief superpower of the day. It made sense to ally with the Egyptians and trust them to supply the military resources needed to fight the Assyrians. But God rebuked them from trusting in the resources of the Egyptians rather than trusting in Him (Isaiah 31:1-9). What are we trusting in? Our great programs, our organizational ability, our clever advertising? Francis Schaeffer once asked the question, If God were to come and remove from our Bibles every reference to the Holy Spirit and prayer, how would our life be different? Would this make a difference, or would we just go on living the way we did before because we never really put much stock in these things anyway. Sometimes I wonder if we have not followed the rest of our culture in totally discounting the supernatural, if not in principle, at least in practice.

Psalms 46:10 has been used to suggest that we should stop in the middle of our daily pursuit and recognize God is God. This is a good application, but it does not really fit the context. Rather, we are told that when the world is falling apart around us, we need to realize God is God (Psalms 46:1-3). We have no idea of the historical context of this psalm. But the picture I get is of the king of Judah running up and down upon the ramparts of the city, making sure his archers are ready here and the gates are secure there. Then there comes in the midst of His hurry the divine interruption, "Stop and know that I am God." Do we really believe that God is God? Do we live like it? Or would we rather trust in horsemen and chariots.