Unsinkable

Happy New Year, readers! I started my day with a little prayer meeting with two sisters in the Lord. We read Psalm 20. It’s short, so I’ll just include it here:

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
    May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
² May he send you help from the sanctuary
    and give you support from Zion!
³ May he remember all your offerings
    and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah

⁴ May he grant you your heart's desire
    and fulfill all your plans!
⁵ May we shout for joy over your salvation,
    and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

⁶ Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
    he will answer him from his holy heaven
    with the saving might of his right hand.
⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
⁸ They collapse and fall,
    but we rise and stand upright.

⁹ O Lord, save the king!
    May he answer us when we call.

When my prayer partner read the verses highlighted in yellow, something in me substituted words for “chariots” and “horses”. All I could think of was all the people who put their faith in the Titanic – that supposedly unsinkable ship. It’s easy for us to scoff at those folks now – hindsight and all that.

But how many of us are trusting in vaccines and boosters to get us out of the mess we’ve been in for nearly two years now? Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not an anti-vaxxer, and please let’s not argue about it. I simply realize that anything human ingenuity comes up with is no substitute for divine intervention.

When I was dealing with addiction in my family, I was cockily confident in the promises of 12 step programs. If I could only convince the alcoholic I loved to buy into the tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous, everything was going to be alright. It took years before I would realize the reason AA has helped so many people is because its principles are Scriptural. Again, it’s the power behind the program which saves lives.

I could go on to mention political institutions and agents, social agendas, forms of government, even superlative preachers. Keep them all, and give me Jesus.

I’ve mentioned before that my late husband, Mike, used to caution me not to “fall in love with the salesman” whenever we were making a major purchase like a car. He knew that sales pitches are just that, but it’s the viability of the product that should drive the sale.

On the eve of 2022, I choose to limit my trust in earthly persons and entities, instead reserving it for the God who has never failed me yet. Unlike the Titanic, He is, quite simply, unsinkable.