May 21 – Accept No Substitutes (Job 31: 24-28)

“If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’ . . . I would have been unfaithful to God on high.”
(Job 31:24, 28)

IN WORD:
Moses once gave a very long discourse on the blessings of obeying God and the curses of disobedience. God had entered a covenant with His people, one on which He would never default. Would His people? Moses explained what would happen if they did. Their enemies would lay siege to their cities “until the high fortified walls in which they trust fall down” (Deuter. 28:52).
That is one of the dreadful results of sin: We begin to trust our best efforts rather than the ever-dependable God. Our faith in God crumbles, and we must come up with substitutes, however flawed they may be. In Moses’ speech, it was the high walls of the cities — protection, just in case God happened to fail! In Job’s lament, it’s gold — provision, just in case God happened to lack! There is no shortage of securities that we set up to ensure our safety, health, comfort, or pleasure. We can depend upon them heavily. When we do, we take a huge risk: We may gradually learn to place more trust in them than in God. By God’s standards, that’s unfaithfulness.

IN DEED:
Where do you look for your sense of peace? An account? An education? The national defense? Airport security stations? Standard airbags? The list could go on for pages. Not that there’s anything wrong with earthly insurance in the various forms it takes. But our trust in wealth or walls can be a veiled statement of mistrust in God. He must let our false securities fail before our trust turns back to Him.
Don’t you remember? His eye is on the sparrow and the hairs on your head are numbered. The only thing that can undo you is your deliberate disobedience, and even then it’s under His supervision. Let yourself trust the One who is unfailingly trustworthy. Accept no substitutes. Rest in His sovereign arms.

“It is not our trust that keeps us, but the God in whom we trust who keeps us.” -Oswald Chambers-