Psalm 20:7
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
It is important to remember that the first principle of the gospel is not faith in an abstract sense, but specifically “faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”77 The reason that language is important is because without faith in Christ, faith in anything else is only partial faith or inadequate faith or perhaps even destructive faith. The Psalmist says here that some put their faith in chariots and horses. He might have added flocks and vineyards. He might have added stocks and bonds, houses and careers. He might have added cold cash, personal property, and political influence.
In our day the list of things in which we can put our trust is even more lengthy than that of ancient days because we are so blessed with the riches and luxuries of the earth. We have plenty of newer horses and chariots to tempt us in the twenty-first century. But eventually—as in earlier times—the wheels will grow rusty and the legs will grow lame.
The true purpose of life during the living of it (and at the end of it) is to have put our faith in the things that will not only enrich it but will ultimately outlast it. We should invest in the things that can be taken past the grave into eternal life. And not a single chariot or horse—ancient or modern—is going to make that journey with us.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, . . . but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, . . . for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”78
It is not enough to have faith. We have to have faith in things that save and redeem. And there is only one name given under heaven that can do that. “Remember the name of the Lord our God.”
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