"All other ground is sinking sand..."

"Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation...therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants...in the day shalt thou make thy plants to grow...but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and desperate sorrow." Isaiah 17:10, 11

It is the easiest thing for the enemy to lead us to forget who it is that brought us to where we are. We trust God through the drought and through the hail, but as soon as all is clear, we suddenly say, "I'll take it from here." Then we go to do the work set before us using "strange slips" (Isaiah 17:10), i.e., foreign seeds, supplies other than the strength and sufficiency of God and His grace. We go through the work in the "arm of the flesh" and the plants come up, but the harvest turns into "a heap," i.e., a confused mess, and all the fruits are lost and fit only for burning.

To fully trust God, to cling to Him alone in all circumstances (high, low, and in between), is the hardest thing precisely because it is the most child-like thing: an utter unwavering confidence in no one or thing but your Father. There is a time to be an adult (see I Corinthians 14:20), but we often become too grown-up, i.e., we act like grown ups at the times we are supposed to be children. "Except ye...become as little children," unless you lose all confidence and trust in yourself, "ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven," there is no place for you in the presence of God (Matthew 18:3). There is no place in God's presence for isolated individuals. The presence of God means your person being swept up into communion with the perfect communion of the Trinity. Individualistic notions and attitudes cannot survive such a unity.

Everywhere we go in the Bible, we find that everything done without God behind it has been and always will be a monumental waste of time. "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man," all their works shall turn to dust. (Jeremiah 17:5-8)