Don't trust in princes

Psalm 118:9 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in princes. 

Psalm 146:3 Don’t put your trust in princes, each a son of man in whom there is no help. 

There are few princes left in the world. But there are many political, business, entertainment, athletic and other influencers and leaders, avidly desiring followers, so as to stroke their own egos, or advantage themselves. These two verses, from the Psalms, warn against loyalty to such people, against uncritical belief in what they say, against expecting help from them. They certainly warn against worship of such people, rather than following Christ.

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With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, excerpt 110

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post in this series is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. In this excerpt, Murray continues a discussion about persevering prayer. His book is based on Mark 11:22-24. 

Let it be thus whether you pray for yourself, or for others. All labour, bodily or mental, needs time and effort: we must give up ourselves to it. Nature discovers her secrets and yields her treasures only to diligent and thoughtful labour. However little we can understand it, in the spiritual husbandry it is the same: the seed we sow in the soil of heaven, the efforts we put forth, and the influence we seek to exert in the world above, need our whole being: we must give ourselves to prayer. But let us hold fast the great confidence, that in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
And let us specially learn the lesson as we pray for the Church of Christ. She is indeed as the poor widow, in the absence of her Lord, apparently at the mercy of her adversary, helpless to obtain redress. Let us, when we pray for His Church or any portion of it, under the power of the world, asking Him to visit her with the mighty workings of His Spirit and to prepare her for His coming, let us pray in the assured faith: prayer does help, praying always and not fainting will bring the answer. Only give God time. And then keep crying day and night. ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge saith. And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry to Him day and night, and He is long-suffering over them. I say unto you, He will avenge them speedily.’

Impressions, by Martin Wells Knapp, 48

In a previous excerpt, Knapp stated that there are four features of "impressions" from God. These are Scriptural; Right (consistent with good morals); Providential (in harmony with God's will); and Reasonable. His discussion of "Impressions from Above" continues:

CHAPTER IX
CONVICTIONS FROM ABOVE -- RESULTS OF BEING LED BY THEM

"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein; for then thou shalt have thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." -- Joshua 1: 8.

Impressions which are of God ripen into convictions. They are to convictions what the blossom is to the fruit. No impression should be followed until it has thus ripened. When it has it must be obeyed, and God will always bless such obedience with blessed and abundant fruitage.

The results are so sweet and soul-satisfying that simply a review of them is an inspiration.

The following are among the many fruits which abound in all who are thus led.

Calmness. A holy calm possesses the soul which is conscious that God is leading. It may be led contrary to natural inclinations, and like Paul, against the protests of countrymen and bosom friends, yet amid all oppositions, it may be as peaceful as Galilee beneath the Master's silencing command.

Confidence. Righteousness always inspires confidence. The promise that "The Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken," finds in them fruitful fulfillment. Trusting not in self or human help, but in the "living God" alone, they are as "bold as a lion." They can speak to frowning Sanhedrins, or, like Luther, to an angry Diet, if God gives the message, and fearlessly leave the results with Him. They sow the seed that He commands, and expect Him to send the sunshine, the shower and the harvest.

They are Free from Fret. God never leads people to fret and worry. Hence, those who keep all their ways committed to Him, never do. "Anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and thanksgiving," they let their requests be known to God, and thus possess the peace that passeth understanding. If the seed they have sown does not come up the next morning, they do not dig it up to see what is the matter, but having done their best believe that God will do the rest. Instead of fretting and groaning under corroding care, they "cast all their burdens upon the Lord," He sustains them, and they sing:

"This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long."

Blessed salvation that saves from sin, and also from friction and from fret!

Excerpted from Impressions, by Martin Wells Knapp. Original publication date, 1892. Public domain. My source is here. The previous post in the series is here.