Morning, May 4
<< Morning, May 4 >>
He will break down every high tower
        and every fortified wall.
He will destroy all the great trading ships and every magnificent vessel.
Human pride will be humbled,
        and human arrogance will be brought down.
Only the LORD will be exalted
        on that day of judgment.
Insight
Lofty towers were part of a city or nation's defenses. This phrase refers to security based on military fortresses. “Great trading ships” pictures economic prosperity; and “every magnificent vessel” reveals pleasure and enjoyment.
Challenge
Nothing can compare with or rival the place God must have in our hearts and minds. To place our hope elsewhere is nothing but false pride. Place your confidence in God alone.
Jeremiah 16:20  Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods.

One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and the spiritual Israel are vexed with a tendency to the same folly. Remphan's star shines no longer, and the women weep no more for Tammuz, but Mammon still intrudes his golden calf, and the shrines of pride are not forsaken. Self in various forms struggles to subdue the chosen ones under its dominion, and the flesh sets up its altars wherever it can find space for them. Favourite children are often the cause of much sin in believers; the Lord is grieved when he sees us doting upon them above measure; they will live to be as great a curse to us as Absalom was to David, or they will be taken from us to leave our homes desolate. If Christians desire to grow thorns to stuff their sleepless pillows, let them dote on their dear ones.

It is truly said that "they are no gods," for the objects of our foolish love are very doubtful blessings, the solace which they yield us now is dangerous, and the help which they can give us in the hour of trouble is little indeed. Why, then, are we so bewitched with vanities? We pity the poor heathen who adore a god of stone, and yet worship a god of gold. Where is the vast superiority between a god of flesh and one of wood? The principle, the sin, the folly is the same in either case, only that in ours the crime is more aggravated because we have more light, and sin in the face of it. The heathen bows to a false deity, but the true God he has never known; we commit two evils, inasmuch as we forsake the living God and turn unto idols. May the Lord purge us all from this grievous iniquity!

"The dearest idol I have known,

Whate'er that idol be;

Help me to tear it from thy throne,

And worship only thee."


Isaiah 59:1  Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.

Psalm 138:3  On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.

Daniel 9:21  while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.

Psalm 27:9  Do not hide Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation!

Psalm 22:19  But You, O LORD, be not far off; O You my help, hasten to my assistance.

Jeremiah 32:17  'Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,

2 Corinthians 1:10  who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,

Luke 18:7,8  now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? • "I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

New American Standard Bible Copyright ? 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

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