Lean on the LORD

When King Hezekiah was besieged in Jerusalem with the remnant of Israel, the pompous Rabshakeh of Assyria hurled a lot of verbal rubbish as he threatened, cajoled, and mocked.  Nestled in the arrogant boasting and blasphemy there was a grain of truth.  He falsely accused King Hezekiah as relying upon Egypt for help, but his conclusions about those who place their trust in men was dead on.  He said in 2 Kings 18:21, "Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him."

There is reason why reeds are not used for supporting the structure of buildings.  A gentle breeze moves them and very little effort is required to push them over.  The Rabshakeh compared the king of Egypt to a broken reed damaged beyond repair, and trying to lean on the staff of Egypt--a sturdy stick used to maintain balance and footing while walking--it would only end in injury.  What the Rabshakeh said concerning the Egyptians was true of those who put their trust or hope in the Assyrians or any nation!  All other people and things we look to for support are only found through trust in the LORD.

I have a personal example of this:  yesterday I smoked a brisket for dinner and I have a digital thermometer I use to monitor the temperature of the pit as well as the meat.  It is a clever device which is more accurate than the lid thermometer and because I have used it successfully for years I trust it is giving me the correct temperature.  When smoking larger pieces of meat there is a period called "the stall," where the moisture from the meat simultaneously cools it.  A whole hour may pass to gain a single degree of internal temperature, and once the stall is over the internal temperature of the meat rises much faster.  I thought I was in the middle of a second and very lengthy stall when the probe connection ran out of battery.  Because I trusted the thermometer to read an accurate temperature (and had for 18 hours) I didn't know the meat was done.  So we had some overcooked (but thankfully very edible and tasty) brisket and a valuable lesson:  trusting in anything or anyone other than God leads to trouble.

I wonder:  what sort of "staff" do we trust?  Trusting a staff for walking would lead to us placing our weight on it, leaning on it for support.  The currency of the United States has "In God We Trust" on every note and coin,yet it's likely money is a staff we tend to look to for security.  It may have taken a painful and distressing situation to learn the hard way Egypt could not supply the help Israel hoped for, and it is often through trials and difficulties that throw us off balance we discover what our false support are.  Dumbo the elephant in the movie was tricked to believe a magic feather enabled him to fly and emboldened him to jump, but the marvelous ability was in his enormous ears.  Our tendency is to trust ourselves, to lean on others, to look to our resources, or vainly hope for circumstances to change, yet the reality is as children of God we ought to look to our Saviour and Good Shepherd Jesus Christ.  He was pierced for our sins so we could be forgiven and redeemed, never runs out of battery, and none who trust in Him will be ashamed.