by Robert Fudge

We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago. 2 With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and
made our fathers flourish. 3 It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them. 4 You are my
King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. 5 Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes. 6 I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; 7 but
you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame. 8 In God we make our boast all day long and we will praise your name forever.

We are what we are because God has either made us or allowed us to become that. While God gives us a free will to choose to accept him or reject him he is the power that enables us to become more like
him. This is true whether we are talking about this great country in which we live, the Lord’s church, our family, or each of us as individuals. Without God we would be nothing. Israel (and even King David on
at least one occasion) had a problem remembering that they were great because God made them great and not because of their own power. Israel was designated as God’s special nation of people, given the
land of Canaan and then given victory of their enemies by God’s mighty hand. Today, as Christians, we are chosen to be his special people and we are given abundant blessings. The greatest blessing of all is
the fellowship we have with God through the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. And yet, we like Isreal, often begin to think we are really good or spiritual or godly because we have been able to attain it through
our own hard work and efforts. The Apostle Paul said: “it is no longer I that lives but Christ lives in me.” On another occasion he said that he counted all his accomplishments as rubbish in light of the surpassing
value of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord. This may not seem like much to us but to Paul that was a lot. He had become the “up and coming” star among his people; he was a leader with the best education
offered who could trace his heritage to God’s people. He said if anyone had reason to boast, he had more. Yet he gave all that up in recognition of the fact that he was nothing on his own; he owed it all to God
through Christ Jesus.

As a Christian, each of us is great in the sight of God. He wants to make us more like him and thus to make us better. He wants to give us spiritual understanding. He wants to bless us. Our problem is our lack
of faith and our lack of commitment. I see it in my life when I fail to trust him and try to find all the answers on my own, fix my own problems, do it my way, or become righteous through my own doing, etc. I
don’t trust God, I trust my own ability. Or I see it in my lack of commitment when I give up and become discouraged. I see it when I don’t devote time to study his word, or pray to him or worship and
fellowship with other Christians or when I fail to live for him in service to others. We must allow God to live in us through his Holy Spirit and we will then become what he wants us to be.

Help me O God to be more committed to you and to your will. Strengthen my faith. Help me to see you in all that I am and all that I do. Show me your will in my life and help me to allow your Spirit to work out in my life what you work in me. I give you all the glory through your Son and in his name.

May God bless each of us as we live for him by his power today.