March 22
“The Lord saveth not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lords” (1 Sam. 17:47).
God has His own way of breaking all of us. David himself testified in 1 Samuel 17:47, and
declared very boldly that he was not depending upon the sword or any other weapon. Yet,
after winning many other battles in the strength of the Lord he wanted to take pride in
numbering his people, to show to others that in his kingdom there were many mighty men of valour to fight the enemy. He commanded Joab to number the people. Joab reminded him that he had not fought any battle in his own strength, nor by the strength of his army, but
that it was the Lord that had fought for him. Yet the King’s word prevailed and Joab numbered the people, till God’s wrath fell upon David, and he was brought to the threshing floor, (2 Sam. 24:15,16) to break his pride. A threshing floor is the place where men separate the grain from the chaff. David had begun to take pride in his knowledge, schemes and plans, but God was telling him: “David, what you called cleverness is nothing but chaff.” He had to be brought to the threshing floor to be humbled and emptied, and to break and take away his strength and self-sufficiency. God does the same to us to make us depend upon Him completely. That very threshing floor later became the site for Solomon’s temple (2 Chronicles 3:1).
March 21 | Voice of God
March 21
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29).
Many believers, alas! are unlike the colt and need to be beaten many times. That is our
nature; we are so stubborn. We do not yield to the voice of God easily. We only want Him to
bless us and deliver us from difficulties. When it comes to doing His will we do not want that.
We only want our will to be done. That is why many believers do not grow spiritually. They
do not obey the Lord Jesus Christ implicitly. Yet with what joy and humility the colt carried
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus was showing His disciples at that time, if they wanted
to be His true disciples, if they wanted to serve Him and follow Him, then they should be like
that colt. By nature it was stubborn, but in God’s presence it was perfectly humble and
obedient. No man can break our will. All of us are very stubborn, and it is only after many
years of beating that we become humble.
There are different kinds of pride in all of us and that is why we find it hard to obey the Lord
implicitly. The Lord has to break our pride in many ways. Sometimes the breaking comes
through sickness.