August 29, 2025

Psalm 46:8-11 (HCSB)
8 Come, see the works of the Lord,
who brings devastation on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease throughout the earth.
He shatters bows and cuts spears to pieces;
He burns up the chariots.
10 “Stop your fighting—and know that I am God,
exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”
11 Yahweh of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah

Michael Jackson
I’ve been writing a song lately with a new friend of mine, Ward Davis. I’ve had a song idea for years in my head that I’ve never started but decided to throw this idea out to Ward. He liked it and we’ve been writing “The Luckier I Ain’t”. You know how you sometimes feel like the harder you try the worse you do? You know that feeling of wondering if it’ll work out the way you want? And how occasionally you just can’t figure out for the life of you why it’s that way?
In today’s scriptures I can’t help but think about how, all over the world, it seems the harder people and civilizations try to get along, the more they eventually wind up fussing and feuding. World leaders have got to wonder why in the world the harder they try “The Luckier They Ain’t”. Maybe in life and in running civilizations, we try too hard. Or don’t try the right things. It sounds real churchy to say ‘leave it to God,’ but that’s actually a pretty good idea. We can’t leave some things to God, like feeding ourselves, or staying away from the front of moving trains. We kinda sorta need to do some of that stuff on our own. But the big things ... the things we get really prideful about and think we know best ... to the point of not remembering who our Creator is ... and therefore looking down on our neighbors and not remembering He created them, too ... that’s when we find ourselves in quite the messes. Wars even. God says He will be exalted in all the earth. In all the nations. He stops wars and destroys the weapons of enemies. He’s in the peace business. We should be, too. He has success stories all through the Bible for us to read. How come the harder the world tries to get along, “The Luckier It Ain’t”? Because it’s not about us. It’s about Him. If the whole world looked to Him, we would see each other in a different light. Nations would not fight. People would not fuss with each other. 
When people see God for who He really is, they can’t help but fall at His feet and accept His wonderous gift of peace. And if we look to Him, we will probably soon find ourselves becoming oddly luckier all of a sudden.