Chariots and Horses

by prophetic artist, Rachel Dube

Psalm 20:7,8 (NIV) “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.”

Isaiah 31:1-3 (NIV) “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord. Yet he, too, is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against that wicked nation, against those evildoers. But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, those who help will stumble, those who are helped will fall; all will perish together.”

What did the Israelites have to save themselves from the might of the Egyptians who ruled over them as slave masters? They had nothing in themselves. God’s people languished under Egypt’s heavy hand of oppression. They cried out to God for deliverance and freedom. Out of their nothing, God brought salvation. He not only freed them from Egypt without a battle, but led them out with the wealth of the Egyptians. He did the impossible.

He guided them miraculously through the desert to an impassable ocean at their front and a swiftly approaching army at their back. Now what did God’s people have to rescue themselves from the evil that would soon surely overtake them without struggle? They had no army or weapons, no place to hide, no horses or chariots to carry them quickly to the other side. They had nothing in themselves. They cried out to God in great fear. Out of their nothing, God brought deliverance. He lifted the deep sea full of fish into walls of water with a dry path through the middle and held the Egyptian army back with a pillar of cloud until the Israelites could walk through to safety. He did the impossible.

The Egyptian army represented the power of a mighty, wealthy and prosperous kingdom and oppressor. Their soldiers were covered in helmets and armor; they rode in sturdy chariots pulled by powerful and swift horses of war. They carried weapons formed for victory in battle and they charged forward with vengeance. What did the Israelites have to survive their Red Sea crossing if the army could reach them to devour them on the opposite shore? They had nothing in themselves. Out of their nothing, even their lack of faith, God brought rescue to his people. He allowed the Egyptians to enter the midst of the sea on dry land. He threw them into a panic and clogged their chariot wheels. He closed the sea, causing the towering walls of water to crash back into their normal course, covering “the chariots and the horsemen…not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea…Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians…Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord…” (Exodus 14:28-31 ESV)

The security and the rescue of the Israelites were dependent on God’s might alone. All the Israelites needed to do was to trust Him and to submit to His leadership (and the leadership of Moses whom God put in place).

Our security and our salvation, our rescue, is not in the strength, the power, or the prosperity of this world. It is not in the things or the people who provide a counterfeit peace to our culture. Our rescue from sin, from suffering, and from the enemy of our souls, is grounded not in our own strength, but in the trustworthiness of God. We need only to trust Him and to submit to His leadership in our lives, rather than trusting in the things of this world to give us peace and save us. God is gracious to us and gives to His children everything, even often in spite of our lack of faith.

“The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” Psalm 145:17-18 (ESV)

We, as God’s children, can sing with Moses and the Israelites in Exodus 16 (ESV), “ The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him…you have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode...”