Putting our trust in “horses”
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2026 Blog #8
March 23, 2026
Putting our trust in “horses”
I’m wondering if our nation has gotten off track by putting our trust, not in God’s will, but in “horses.” No, I don’t literally mean the animal, horses. I’m using the metaphor used by the ancient Israeli prophet, Isaiah in the 31st chapter of his book. A lot of drama serves as a background for Isaiah’s writing.
The Assyrian empire was in the process of invading Israel. Eventually, these invaders took over the northern kingdom of Israel, containing ten of the twelve tribes of Israel. Many of the members of these tribes were sent into exile into the Assyrian empire and, because they did not return, were called the “lost tribes” of Israel. The remaining Jews who had not been exiled, intermarried with the invaded Assyrians. The offspring became known as “Samaritans” who were hated by the Jews of Jesus’ day.
At the time of this invasion, the southern Israeli kingdom, which contained two of the twelve tribes, was also known as “Judah.” These two tribes, with Jerusalem as the capital, were understandably nervous. If Assyria could conquer ten tribes, what could they do to the remaining two? The prophet Isaiah assured the political powers of Judah that God would protect Judah, but not all of the leadership was convinced. Some people did not trust the prophetic word and instead, decided to take matters into their own hands.
These people sought help and an alliance with the kingdom of Egypt which was a major military power at the time. The prophet Isaiah, speaking for God, urged the leadership of Judah to not seek such an alliance, but instead to trust God.
Here is the first verse of Isaiah 31:
Alliance with Egypt Is Futile
31 Alas for those who go down to Egypt for help
and who rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!
I wonder if the United States makes the same mistake that Isaiah is condemning. Instead of seeking what God wants and returning to obedience, are we putting our security in armaments, the modern version of “horses.” It seems like we are trading an alliance with God for an alliance with arms manufacturers. Based on the history of our military in my lifetime, I see only bad things coming from trust in weapons.
I remember being driven out of Vietnam despite our superiority of weapons.
In Somalia, we lost eighteen of our elite soldiers when our high-tech weapons failed against more primitive ones.
Despite our efforts in invading and conquering Iraq, I’m not sure that Iraq is the democracy that we set out to create. From what I read, Iraq is considered a democracy, yet militias exercise a lot of influence over the government. The democracy that we constructed is not a democracy as we know it.
Afghanistan, of course, is one of most egregious efforts. We invaded, fought a war there for twenty years and finally were expelled. We left that country in the hands of the Taliban who we invaded with the purpose of di-empowering.
In my lifetime I have seen our nation put its trust in our military, the modern version of the “horses” that Isaiah spoke about. Is this really where our trust should be placed?
Now, we are conducting a war upon Iran. Despite what our current presidential administration claims, I am not so optimistic. I fear that the only results from this conflict will be negative. We are putting our trust in the military without seeking God’s will and trying to abide by God’s will.
Our casualties are mounting as Iran has fired missiles at our nearby military bases, one of our larger aircraft carriers is out of deployment because of a laundry room fire. One of our most sophisticated planes has been badly damaged and the pilot injured. The world’s oil supply has been disrupted. So far, I see no good coming from this conflict.
I wonder if it is time for us as a nation to stop putting our trust in armaments and begin becoming peacemakers. This is what Jesus told us would make us “children of God.” If we trust in arms, nothing good will come from this. If we return to God and do what God tells us to do, we might have better security and do less harm.
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