The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“For this is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: ‘In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.’ But you were not willing, and you said, ‘No, for we will flee on horses!’ Therefore you shall flee!”

—Isaiah 30:15–16

The Lord says we find our salvation in repentance, rest, quietness, and trust. How peaceful that sounds and how rarely we employ it!

When worldly troubles loom, our impulse is to grasp for human means to escape and solve. We trust our modern “horses”—money, insurance, retirement plans, public servants, governments, knowledge, talents, or appearance—to save us. 

When trouble comes, we rarely check that our hearts are right with the Lord, then turn quietly, restfully, and confidently to him. 

If we don’t have enough money in the bank, our protection is failing, we realize we’re somehow not enough for the people in our lives, or we’re not achieving what we hoped, we begin to feel the enemy’s breath at our backs, and we jump on our metaphorical horses, scrambling to find an earthly way to make sure the danger doesn’t catch us instead of repenting where there is something to repent of, following the Lord, resting quietly in him, and trusting his promises.   

While having horses—or any of these other things—isn’t sinful, trusting them for our salvation is, and if we choose to flee using earthly means, then fleeing becomes our fate. 

But when we’re walking with God in repentance, quietness, and rest, he is our salvation even when we see no way to overcome. We must trust in him instead of in the things we can see.

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