Strength from on High

"For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; in returning and rest ye shall be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." Isa.30.15.

It can safely be said that none save the consecrated child of God realises the utter truth of this statement, "In confidence is strength, in returning and rest is salvation." It is upon this and like promises that the Lord's people rely more and more in these days of stress and turmoil. How contrary to God's ways are the ways of fallen man; strength today is measured in a very different manner. Calm, quiet confidence and rest in God is not considered strength and finds no place in unregenerate hearts. It was ever thus, for we read in the very next verse the reply made by Israel of old to this wise counsel from God, "But ye said, No (we will not return) for we will flee upon horses." They preferred their own way rather than the way of God, and God's answer to them was, "therefore shall ye flee."

The horse in Old Testament usage is a counterpart of the modern tanks and guns. It was their idea of confidence and strength. Egypt was distinguished for producing fine horses and the Egyptians used them much in war. God knew this and had forbidden the kings of Israel to multiply horses (Deut.17.16) and in prohibiting them He designed to distinguish His people in all respects from the Egyptians. It was not His purpose for them to rely upon horses for strength and deliverance but solely upon their God, who had promised them victory over all their enemies on conditions of faithfulness to Him. Psalm 20.7, says, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the LORD (Jehovah) our God."

In spite of God's warning through Moses in Deut.17.16, to those who would afterward become the kings of Israel, we find Solomon grossly violated this law, for 1 Kings 10.26 says, "Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen." He had "1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen" and verse 28 says that Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt. This course finally led to Solomon's downfall and the downfall of his kingdom as shown in the next chapter (1 Kings 11.9‑12.)

Among the heathen nations the horse was dedicated to the sun and driven in processions at the festivals of sunworship. The ancient Persians, who were sun worshippers, dedicated white horses and chariots to the sun and it is supposed that other nations derived the practise from them. The sun was supposed to be drawn daily in a chariot by four wondrous coursers. That even Israel had become contaminated by this particular type of idolatry is shown by 2 Kings 23.11, for Josiah, in instituting his wonderful reformation, took away the horses that the Kings of Judah had given to the sun and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. In view of this we can well understand the fitting rebuke of Isa.2.7‑8. "Their land is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots; their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made."

Isa.30.16 continues, "We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift." Alas that man still, as Israel in Isaiah's day, should rely upon the "swift," and his pursuers have access to the same "swift," whatever it be, whether the horses of the ancients or their modern counterparts, and it is still necessary for the Lord (as in verse 18) to "wait, that He may be gracious." Yet how our hearts rejoice as we continue this passage, in verses 19 and 20. "For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers", and, even as we apply to ourselves now the words of verse 21, "This is the way, walk ye in it," so, soon we believe, God will say with authority, "Stand still, and know that I am God," and mankind will then no longer have any trust in horses, but will in "quietness and confidence" wait for the word of our God.