Judah wanted horses, speed, and Egyptian cavalry. God's counteroffer has confounded anxious people ever since: in repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.

You would have none of it, the verse continues. Today, be the exception. Read slowly, on purpose, as an act of protest against your own hurry.

Salvation by slowing down: it sounded absurd to Judah and it sounds absurd now. But God's diagnosis holds. The frantic escape routes we engineer usually outrun us, while repentance, rest, quietness, and trust carry strength that hurry cannot counterfeit. He even promises navigation: a voice behind you, this is the way.

Freedom in Galatians is the same gift with a different name: Christ liberated you, so refuse every yoke that re-enslaves, including the yoke of your own anxious striving. The Lord longs to be gracious to you. Longs. Let that verb slow your pulse today.