Don't Follow What Cannot Save You (Day 248)

A Psalm A Day | Saturday, September 5, 2026

Psalm 49:1–20

Don't Follow What Cannot Save You

by Torrie Slaughter

Psalm 49 speaks to everyone.

“High and low, rich and poor alike.”

Its message addresses one of humanity's persistent temptations:

trusting what appears powerful.

The psalmist looks at people who trust in wealth and boast about their riches.

Then he makes a sobering observation:

No amount of wealth can redeem another human life.

“No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them.”

Money can accomplish many things.

But money makes a terrible shepherd.

Everyone Is Being Led by Something

Jehovah Rohi invites us to ask a deeper question this month:

What is leading me?

Psalm 49 exposes wealth as one possible answer.

Money can begin making decisions for us.

Fear of losing it can lead us.

Desire for more can lead us.

Comparison can lead us.

Status can lead us.

Security can lead us.

And slowly, without realizing it, we can begin following something that has no ability to save us.

The psalmist isn't teaching that possessions themselves are evil.

He is exposing the danger of trust.

What Cannot Redeem You Should Not Rule You

Psalm 49 brings every human achievement face-to-face with mortality.

Rich and poor eventually encounter the same limitation.

We cannot purchase redemption.

Then verse 15 changes the direction:

“But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.”

There is the contrast.

Human wealth cannot redeem.

God can.

And what a beautiful phrase:

“He will surely take me to himself.”

The destination isn't merely a better circumstance.

It is God Himself.

Jehovah Rohi Reorders What Leads Us

The Shepherd doesn't simply lead us away from obvious danger.

He also exposes false shepherds.

Anything that begins determining our identity, security, obedience, or worth can compete for the place that belongs to God.

So today isn't primarily about asking:

“Do I have money?”

The better question is:

“Does money have me?”

And we could ask that question about many things.

Approval.

Success.

Influence.

Comfort.

Recognition.

Fear.

None of them can redeem you.

So none of them deserve to lead you.

Today's Micro-Surrender

Notice one thing besides God that has been heavily influencing your decisions.

Name it without condemning yourself.

Then surrender its authority:

“This may matter to me, but it will not lead me.”

Return leadership to Jehovah Rohi.

Closing Prayer

Jehovah Rohi, expose anything I have allowed to lead me besides You. Free my heart from false security and teach me to trust the God who alone can redeem me. Amen.

Reflect

What has been influencing my decisions more than I realized?

Today, I surrender the leadership of ____________________________ and choose again to follow God.

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