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My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2 (NCV)
We all need help figuring out this thing called life from time to time. Help figuring out a career or career change; help building or rebuilding relationships; help fighting the battles of fatigue, worry or the ever-present battle of just growing old.
During those dark times when help seems distant to the enemy of our souls convinces us that we are in this thing alone, remember the facts. Your help comes from the Lord, the King, the Creator of the universe.
God’s help is timely. He is never late even though our frail minds think otherwise. “If only you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died” was the cry of a sister whose brother died needing the touch of the Savior. By human timelines Jesus was too late. But Lazarus would tell you he came just in time.
God’s help is powerful. Would the one that controls all of nature let one of his children slip through his hands? Would the one who hangs the stars in place ‘drop the ball’ when it comes to watching over one he loves more than the world itself? As one writer put it, “[God] will sooner destroy heaven and earth than permit his people to be destroyed.”
God’s help is constant. He never sleeps. He never slumbers. You are never out of his sight, never too far away for him not to snatch you from the arms of disaster. There’s no need to worry when you are in the presence of God and you are ALWAYS in the presence of God. As Max Lucado says in his book “Come Thirsty”, ‘Jesus has two words to describe worry, irrelevant and irreverent.’
God’s help protects us. Normally we think of needing God’s help when the struggles around us are too great to bear; when no man can help us. But perhaps God’s help is needed most during those times of plenty, when life is good. For it is during those times we tend to rely on ourselves rather than God. It’s during the good times of life when the enemy can attack most easily and bring us down. It is during those times when God’s protection is needed and available the most.
My help comes from the Lord, my Lord. The one who created the heavens and the earth. The one who saw me on the day of my conception and will never leave me until that day when I see him face to face. And that day will be glory for me!
PRAYER: O Lord, my Lord how majestic is your name. I praise you today for the help you give me on so many levels. I can go forth today knowing I’m never out of your watchful and caring eye. Thank you Lord. Amen.
“that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:5-6 NLT
A few years ago I changed my cell phone provider and as a result got a new phone number. For a short time after that (and still on occasion) I’d get phone calls from people looking for someone else. I’d tell them that this was my number and I wasn’t the person they were looking for. That person, who ever it was, was no longer at this ‘address’.
That’s what grace is like. As we try to grow closer to Christ, old acquaintances will try to contact us.
Old friend worry will dial our number when the boss tells us that the company will be downsizing and your hours will be cut.
Lust will pop up on the phone screen of your life when things at home get a little to stressful and you begin to wonder if the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence.
You’ll hear the familiar voice of anger as you find the porn magazine under your son’s bed.
Doubt will ask for you to come to the phone when the prayers you prayed so fervently aren’t answered the way you’d hoped.
Fear will text you when the doctor calls and, rather than give you the results over the phone, asks you to come into the office.
Shame and guilt? Oh, they still have your number too. They’ll call at any hour of the day or night, waking you up to remind you of your past or question how you can talk about God with this ‘monkey’ hidden on your back.
Grace tells us that we can respond to each of these old friends by saying, “Sorry. I don’t live there anymore.” Before Christ we lived side by side with all of these old friends. Now that Jesus is in our lives we are changed, we’re new people, we live at I M Forgiven and we no longer need to take calls from the old life.
When the old friends call don’t give them a moment of your time. The shame and guilt you once carried can be placed on the back of a Savior who died to free you from that baggage. The anger, lust, worry and fear can be put out on the curb for garbage pick-up. You have no more use for it.
There’s nothing you can do to free yourself of these enemies of your soul. But that’s okay, Jesus already did that for you 2000 years ago on the cross. Today he sits at the right hand of creator God to be an advocate for us in our struggle. Because of Jesus you no longer live at that old address!
PRAYER: Lord Jesus the old life isn’t willing to let me go very easily. I still struggle on a daily basis with at least one of the old ‘friends’ from my past. Empower me by your Spirit to live free of their harassment. Because of you I’m a new person at a new address and they have no more hold on me. Thank you! Amen.
The poor and the homeless won’t always be forgotten and without hope. Psalm 9:18 (CEV)
Looking back, I’m amazed at how my mother got five boys ready every Sunday morning for Sunday School. Those were the days of white shirts, black pants and clip-on ties. Somehow she made breakfast, had dinner in the oven and all five us in the car and on the way to church almost on time every week. Having dad as the pastor helped a little, he HAD to be there. He would often go ahead with anyone that might be ready. The rest would usually follow in a second car…just in case.
It may not come as any surprise that on occasion we’d all be called to dinner table after arriving home and notice that one chair was empty.
“Where’s Mike?”
“He told me he was riding home with you, that he’d asked you and you said it would be okay.”
“Never saw him. I bet we forgot him at church. I’ll be back.” And with that, off dad would go to drive to church and pick up the solitary figure waiting patiently on the church steps.
It didn’t happen often, but occasionally that scene was played out for each of us kids. We’d get busy playing with a friend or exploring the back rooms of the church and find ourselves alone…forgotten. Fortunately the church was only a couple miles from home and no permanent damage occurred.
No one likes to feel like their forgotten. My story was a humorous on, but there are those who feel forgotten by God, by family or by friends on a daily basis. Their lives are filled with hopelessness, loneliness and despair. The reasons for their plight are numerous. Some have run away from abusive relationships or been sent away and feel as though God himself has forgotten them. For some their entire lives have been a battle of survival. Health issues, financial struggles, poverty all work together to bring people to their knees in despair.
The forgotten may seek comfort from the enemy of despair in many ways. Some sink into depression, some strike out in anger to take what isn’t theirs to comfort them. Others use drugs, people, or even religion to mask the pain of being ‘forgotten’.
The inevitable question in the midst of our feelings of hopelessness and being forgotten is, ‘Where is God in all this? Why hasn’t he come to my rescue?”
When you feel like God has forgotten you, remember that you are never gone from his sight. He knows your every step, your every thought, your every feeling of despair. Peter writes (2 Peter 3:9) that God isn’t slow concerning his promise. He’s patient and whatever you are going through isn’t a sign that he can’t deliver you. He can. But for reasons we may never know he’s allowing this for your strengthening.
Remember the words of Jesus (Luke 12:6) when he says that even sparrows, insignificant as they are, will never be forgotten by God.
Don’t allow the wilderness of your soul to let you think you are forgotten by your Heavenly Father. Your Father loves you. Your hope isn’t grounded in the things of this world (health, financial stability, strong relationships), your hope is grounded in eternity and the love your father has for you.
PRAYER: Father, in my despair I feel forgotten by others and even by you at times. Thank you for loving me. Help me to feel your hand upon me through this current struggle. Empower me to trust you when the future seems so bleak. I put my trust in you. Amen.
How great is God’s love for all who worship him? Greater than the distance between heaven and earth! Psalm 103:11 CEV
“I love you.”
“You don’t even know me, and if you did, you wouldn’t love me.”
“I do know you, and I love you.”
“No one could love me if they really knew me. I’m not the person you think you see.”
“I can see to your very soul. I know you better than you think. I know you better than you know yourself! I know about your feelings of lust last week.”
“You can’t! No one knows that but me. I buried it deep inside…what else do you know?”
“The feelings of suicide last week?”
“NO! STOP IT! Who are you…never mind that…you knew that and you still love me?”
“I do. I have for a long time, I love you now and nothing will ever keep me from loving you in the future.”
Sound like some sort of weird plot from a low-budget movie? A weird sort of love story? It’s not. It’s what the Heavenly Father says to you every day. Still, the extent of God’s love isn’t as amazing as the fact that he loves us at all.
The need to be loved is the driving force in all of us. It’s part of our humanity, part of our genetic make-up. It’s why we seek out relationships. But God doesn’t ‘need’ to love us. He ‘wants’ to love us. This may come as a bit of shock but there is nothing really of any value in us for God to love. His love isn’t based on who we are or what we do, it’s based on who he is and what he does.
How much does he love you? Step outside on a star-filled night and look up. See that faintest of all stars? How far do you suppose that star is? A couple thousand light-years perhaps? Were we to be able to measure God’s love for you, it would surpass that little glimmer of light you can barely see.
Big enough to rule the universe, powerful enough to control nature, wise enough to create life itself, intimate enough that even though he knows your deepest struggles, your darkest secrets and your biggest failures, he loves you.
You can avoid him, but he’ll continue to seek you out. You can rebel against him, but he’ll continue to watch for your return. You can tell him to leave, but he’ll stand in the shadows to watch over you. You can deny his love, but he’ll never deny you.
PRAYER: Lord, I’m so unworthy of your love for me. I’m stubborn, rebellious and selfish. I demand my own way and push you aside when it benefits me. Still, you keep on loving me. I’m amazed. I’m humbled. Forgive me for my waywardness. Empower me to live with your love for me in view when the voices of despair tempt me to think otherwise. Amen.
But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. Daniel 6:10 (NLT)
Most of us, when faced with a crisis of any sort, resort to the lessons we learned at the University of Worry.
We worry when the marriage relationship begins to grow cold. We worry when the credit cards come. We worry when the doctor calls us and asks us to come in to discuss the test results. We worry when the phone rings late at night, or sirens go by our house and the kids aren’t home yet.
Worry is basically a human ‘skill’. Animals don’t worry. Jesus tells us the flowers of the field don’t worry. Humans worry. Worry really doesn’t do us any good. Worry redirects our focus for a solution away from God and towards ourselves. It’s really saying “God can’t handle this one, I’m in this alone.”
Worry causes all sorts of emotional, physical and spiritual stress in our lives and none of us needs more stress. When that happens we blame God, others or ourselves for the problem. Playing the ‘blame-game’ when we are worried is self-defeating. Worry is paralyzing and keeps us from seeing solutions clearly.
Daniel was a great man of God. He’d learned through experience that breaking away from the crowd and following God when it didn’t make sense eventually paid off. One day, a law was passed that no one was allowed to pray to their God. Prayers, and faith, were only to be put in government. The sentence for breaking the law was death by lion pit.
So what did Daniel do? He went to his room, opened the window, and began to praise God for all he’d done. Did he pour out his heart for mercy? Doesn’t look like it. Did he plead for protection? Don’t see that in scripture either. Did he beg for deliverance? No sign of that.
What did Daniel do in the face of crisis? He thanked God for all the things he’d done. Paul tells us the same thing in Philippians. He says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6 (NLT)
That’s not an easy thing to do. Our humanity screams lies at us. We’re told we are in this alone. We are told God won’t hear us. We’re told lies like ‘God helps those who help themselves’. It’s a hard, hard truth to learn. When faced with crisis in your life, don’t focus on the crisis, focus on the cross.
PRAYER: Father God, it’s easy to say I trust you. It’s much harder to live ‘I trust you’. Especially when the future looks so dark and scary. In the face of adversity help me to praise you for who you are. Give me strength to believe you will do what you say you will do. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 