Why Strength Alone Won’t Save You | Psalm 33:17 Devotional + Workout

Devotional

“The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.”

We’ve already touched on Psalm 33:16 in our introduction to King David and the story of David and Goliath. In Psalm 33:16, David says that a king is not saved by his great army or a warriors strength. He makes a point that no one person, or many people for that matter, can act as a savior.

Psalm 33:17 takes this thought even further and elaborates that there is no resource that can replace our reliance on God. It’s important to see the distinction between these two verses.

In the times that the Psalms were written, war horses and chariots were viewed as the ultimate symbol of dominance or military strength. The word chariot is mentioned 147 times in the ESV Bible, 20 more times than the word idol!

David mentions that we cannot rely on people in verse 16, then immediately says we cannot rely on worldly resources and weapons in verse 17. This one-two-punch is written this way on purpose; to emphasize that only one thing can rescue us, God.

No matter how much we train, we will always be limited physically. But with God, all things are possible.

One of many great examples of God overcoming physical limitations is in Judges 7, where Gideon and his army of 300 men overcame an overwhelmingly large force of Midianites.

God even reduced Gideon’s army on purpose—to make it clear that victory wasn’t from strength, but from Him. If you haven’t read Gideon’s full story, I would encourage that you do!

No amount of strength, training, or preparation can save us. We can build, train, and improve—but our trust can’t be in what we’ve built. It has to be in God alone.

Workout

Below is the workout for the day.

Three things to consider when completing this workout:

1. We are doing less exercises today than usual due to the strain that 6 sets of doubles in squats should have on your nervous system. These sets should drain you.

2. Good mornings should not be very heavy. Today should be seen as heavy squats with light accessory work. Really push the squats.

3. Step-ups should be done on a high platform. The top of your quad should be parallel to the ground, at a minimum. The higher the better.

Barbell Back Squat

6 sets of 2 reps

Barbell Good Morning

4 sets of 10 reps

DB Step-Up

4 sets of 5 reps each leg

DB Romanian Deadlift

4 sets of 10 reps