Psalm 33:16-19 - April 7, 2009

Ps. 33:16-19 "No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. 17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. 18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, 19 to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine." NIV

This portion of Psalm 33 can be summed up in a small portion of Zech 4:6 “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.” No measure of human strength, no measure of military might, no amount of intellectual prowess can be depended on as the true source of victory in life. Throughout the pages of history human record bears witness to the consistent reality that at any given time the larger, better prepared, more fully armed force has no guarantee of victory. For every Goliath there is a David whose faith in God is greater than Goliath’s natural ability. For every Pharaoh with an army of trained soldiers and an arsenal of chariots and horses there is a Moses with the Word of the Lord and a wooden staff. For every Midianite army there is a humble man like Gideon who rises up in a faith response with 300 men and a plan from heaven.
This passage in its essence is a call to fear the Lord and to place our trust Him. The Lord is watching over those who fear Him and He is their true source of deliverance. As 2 Chron 20:15-16 says, “the battle is not yours, but God's.” When our ways are submitted to the Lord in a holy reverence God becomes our defense and our victory. Throughout the pages of scripture the Lord repeatedly led his people to victory through the power of divine revelation in the time of need. Again and again they triumphed over superior forces. Again and again they watched the Lord fight their battles for them, at times giving a supernatural strategy that enabled them to overcome their enemy in face to face confrontation at other times they simply stood and watched as the Lord fought for them.
For the prophet he blinded the army of the enemy. For the besieged nation he sent the enemy into a panic and in one day the Israelites went for desperation to celebration. For Joshua He caused the walls to fall down and for Jehoshaphat and his army of praisers the Lord set ambushes for the enemy. The power of God is the power of love! As the Lord finds those who love Him, those who will lift up a voice of praise, He becomes a shield and a deliverer from all harm. As Isaiah said in Isa 54:17, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper” KJV. God’s promise to us is that instead of the weapons of the enemy prospering against us, we will prosper against our enemies. He is our deliverer. He is our provider in time of need. And the one that he is looking to protect, the one that he is longing to provide for while others around him are in the midst of famine, is the one who trusts in God’s unfailing love. We must place our hope in the knowledge that God loves us and that this love compels Him to act on our behalf!