Proverbs - Trust and Preparation

Proverbs 21:31

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD

There is a great teaching here.  We discover that safety is from the Lord.  He is the one we must trust to keep us safe and our confidence must be ultimately in Him.  But there is another truth here.  The horse is PREPARED for battle.  Someone has to prepare the horse.  We must prepare things and do our part for each battle.  We must prepare the horse, but trust the Lord.  Sometimes we may place our trust in the horse and try to prepare the Lord for how we think He should work. This is backwards.  In each battle, we should be open to doing our part of the battle.  We might have to work some extra hours in a financial struggle.  We may have to spend time training our children through attitudes.  We might have to exercise to lose those pounds.  Although these preparations are appropriate we must remember that our confidence has to be in the Lord and not in what we have done.  Let us not be lazy, but let us not place our confidence in anyone or anything other than the Lord Himself.